• Welcome to this website/forum for people interested in the Morgan 38 Sailboat. Many of our members are 'owners' of Morgan 38s, but you don't need to be an owner to Register/Join.

Main salon Hatch

stnick

lee nicholas
The Bomar hatch in the overhead of my 384 has broken hatch supports . The only way to fix is remove it and send it to a Welder to redo the lug screws.
Does any one know what model it is . Im guessing its the old ocean series ?. I'm thinking of replacement since it has to removed any way !
 
Lee
We replaced the Bomar hatches with Lewmar Ocean Series 60, flat flange, hatches a number of years ago. The job of installing them was the fastest and easiest job I ever did on the boat. The Lewmars are beautifully made and very well built. They have the added feature of being able to be opened from the outside or they can be locked shut. That is great when setting the spinnaker from it's bag in the v-bunk. In my dealings with the Pompanette Company that handles Bowmar products, on a scale of 1-10, with 10 being wonderful, I would rate their customer service at -2.

Jim
 
John
They are drop ins. As I said, it was the easiest job done on the boat. No alterations to the opening. The hole pattern on the Lewmars are different so new holes are needed. The four corner holes for the existing screws are not covered by the new frames and need to be filled and sanded. That's it. The quality of the Lewmars are night and day over the Bomars.

Jim
 
I'm looking at replacing these hatches also. The thing that isn't clear to me is the status of the portion of the assembly that projects down into the cabin. Is this a part of the hatch frame, or is this separate from the hatch frame ?
 
Bill
The original Bomars are a flat flange arrangement. Meaning the flange sits on the deck and does not turn down into the opening at all. The Lewmars are the same, so if you go with that hatch there is no need to alter the opening at all. The job entails, remove the old hatch, clean up the fiberglass, fill the old holes, drill the new holes, apply the butyl tape, screw down the new. It's that easy.

Jim
 
Can anyone who has replaced their deck hatches with Lewmars tell me if the deck area the hatches are screwed to is cored or solid glass.
 
Bob
I'm pretty sure the areas around the hatches are solid glass. Away from where the hatches are, the decks are balsa cored.

Jim
 
The area where the hatches sit are not cored, but I found lots of areas that are just filled with some sort of putty under the glass. In some cases I could drill and tap for the fasteners, in others I thru bolted. If you get the Lewmar Ocean 60s, make sure you thru-bolt at least the four holes at the hinges. I did not do this and it caused a hatch failure and leaks.
 
James & Terence, thanks for your response. I'll be installing 2 Lewmar medium profile hatches in the near future. I have read on the installation instructions to thru-bolt at the hinges and will do so.
 
Back
Top