Leaky Hatches

Both of Pachuca's hatches have always leaked under load.  And the load can be considerable because the S&S 39  sits low in the water and its deck is easily swept by sheets of water during rough passages, something less likely in a  boat with higher freeboard. 

The forward hatch leaked so much during the passages to New Zealand that I replaced it with a new Maxwell hatch made in NZ at considerable trouble because I was forced to slightly enlarge the hole through the deck.  The first thing that I noticed when I unpacked the winch was that the rubber was crinkled at the corners because it had been forced around the corners rather than properly contoured.  At the time there was a lot of other work going on with the boat and we wished to depart for Tahiti as soon as possible, so I fitted the hatch as it was hoping for the best.  Sadly, that hatch leaked from day one.  It was not a gushing  leak but rather a drip drip drip that forced us to move the clothes and bedding forward whenever we beat hard to weather.

Foredeck Hatch (Maxwell) before re sealing

Seal crinkled at coners (Maxwell)

The cabin hatch is a Lewmar, probably dating from the building of the boat. It drips particularly on the starboard bunk whenever we beat on a port tack.

I would term these "nuisance" leaks but now that the boat's refit had been completed it was time to address these annoyances.

Bruce and I tested the seals with a water hose and to our surprise could not get a leak out of the foredeck (Maxwell) hatch no matter how hard we tried.  Bruce raised the possibility that the leak happens when there is distortion of the hull when beating hard  to weather.  The Lewmar hatch over the cabin leaked as expected, from the aft port corner.

The frame of the Maxwell was in excellent condition and I was determined to  save it by fitting anew seal. 

The Lewmar was ready for replacement because what is termed the "lens" was badly crazed and the frame was pitted, but I would try to buy time by resealing it too.

The problem was finding rubber seals for these obsolete hatches.  I got lucky and found my way to Clark Rubber in Cannington where I was pleased to see the best selection of rubber stripping since "Fitch the Rubber Man" in Adelaide in 2008.  I walked out with 5 profiles of "sponge strip" which for my records were:
- item number 578,     16x5mm
- item number 31575, 13x3mm
- item number 31584, 19x6mm
- item number 31616, 8x3mm
- item number 40536, 19x14mm  self adhesive

I also purchased a can of good quality clear adhesive.

Lewmar hatch: crazed lens, pitted frame, sloppy previous sealing job

Armed with the selection of stripping I found that the Maxwell seal was not stuck with adhesive and was able to remove it intact.  I had noted from an earlier examination that the bottom of the rubber seal had a ridge that was pressed into a groove the frame and I had purchased a strip with a similar profile.

Seal removed from foredeck (Maxwell) hatch

I carefully fit the new strip around the frame, using plenty of adhesive and making sure that the trip was always centered along the groove in the frame. I managed to do this with no crimping at the corners and a tight join of the two ends of the strip. My plan was to clamp the hatch down tight for a few days and in order to avoid the possibility of the lid becoming stuck to the frame I applied a light coating of grease on the lower rim.

But then the hatch would not clamp down into its tight heavy weather position.  Fortunately Kim was at his boat in the adjacent pen and kindly stood on the hatch while I clamped it down.

I used a different approach with the Lewmar hatch.  I cleaned off the existing seal then glued a thin flat strip of rubber inside of the depression formed by years of clamping down the hatch.  The result looked good but once again I could not clamp the hatch down fully from the inside.  Kim had left his boat by then but I got the bright idea of filling up the two 15-leter water containers and placing them on the hatch.  That did the trick.

The first thing that I did when returning to the boat several days later was to do some very aggressive leak testing using the hose at full pressure and with a proper nozzle rather than my thumb as before.  Try as  I might I  could not get the Maxwell hatch to leak, which was a very good result indeed.  I will not be sure about ultimate success until I have had a chance to sail the boat hard to weather with foredeck awash.

But I was somewhat disappointed that the Lewmar still leaked in the same corner and I began to suspect that the leak is through the handle because the depression along the new strip is deep and consistent.  It had been worth a try but it didn't matter because I plan to replace the hatch anyway.

To be honest, I was amazed at the quality the workmanship.

Maxwell hatch after re-sealing

Lewmar hatch after augmenting the seal

Closeup of Lewmar hatch with new thin strip stuck along centre of old strip

Winch Maintenance

This blog states that I last serviced Pachuca's winches in early March 2012, which would have been in Mar del Plata, Argentina.  This confirms my not having a recollection of servicing the winches since my return to Australia in April 2013, but I had my doubts about that when I saw the surprisingly good state of the winches.  The cabin and jib winches were remarkably clean and lubricated, although the spinnaker winches were starting to show a need for servicing. 

Work Area with mattress protector on rail to prevent losing parts overboard

Gears and base ready for cleaning

Winch disassembled, clean, ready for lubrication

The task went well, although I am still very slow at that work.  Breaking down the large winches takes less than 20 minutes, but cleaning and lubricating with lanolin grease each component takes me about two hours of careful and methodical effort.  And the final assembly can cause a few headaches.

The upshot is that as always it took me two days to service the four large winches (Maxwell 28ST) and half a day to service the smaller and simpler cabin top winches (Maxwell 22ST). 

On our last sail the port jib winch jumped a gear with a loud clank when I loaded it up as much as I could with both arms.  It returned to normal when the heavy load was reduced.  So I performed maintenance on it with a careful eye for anything that could explain the gear jump as I cleaned and lubricated each component.  All the bearings were intact, with no cracks in the races.  All the gears were as new.  Maxwell winches use clutches, which I consider to be far superior to pawls, and they seemed OK too. 

I found two possibilities of the cause, which I consider remote.  There was a gear that I had noticed earlier with the walls of two cutouts for the clutch looking very thin.  However, it appeared to me that this how they had been machined and I could not see how this could cause the gear jump problem. The metal showed no indication of bending or fracturing. The second possibility appeared downright startling at first: a vertical hairline crack down the side of the cast alloy housing.  But closer inspection showed that the crack did not go all of the way through the housing, and it matched a small seam on the other side of the housing.  It appeared to me that the housing was composed of two halves that had been joined together by what must have been exquisite welding.  The crack I saw appeared to be superficial with no likely movement, and certainly none evident.

I swapped the suspect gear with the one on the port spinnaker winch.  If that does not correct the problem I will replace both clutches with spare new ones (which I should have done when I had the chance).  With no cleaning and lubricating required I should be able to do the clutch swap in well under an hour.  If that fails I will contact the Australian Yacht Winch Company (which has been brilliant about providing spares in the past) for advice.  Failing all that I'll make a swap with the spinnaker winch which is very infrequently used - a workaround that I am reluctant to take because I want everything on the boat to work correctly, with no hidden traps.

Suspect Gear

Hairline crack on housing

Clutch and springs