Too simple? Front hatch leak solution?

FWIW I just ran across this video. Not sure who made it, but I like the discussion on what he did to make his front hatch watertight.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=klD3M99OVfw

I saw that too and plan to follow that fix. Makes complete sense to me.

_________________
Greg

2016 AI - Spinn & Jib

“Out of sight of land the sailor feels safe. It is the beach that worries him.”
– Charles G. Davis

Keep in mind that removing the inner seal still may not result in the outer seal contacting the hull. In my case, it was necessary to trim the hatch opening flange significantly (1-2 cm in some places) to get outer seal to make contact with the hull. If you need to trim the flange, go slowly and make small adjustments as you go. Lipstick on the top of the flange helps to see where the high spots are.

Great video!

We have made changes in production to address these issues. Hopefully not an issue for new models!

_________________
Matt Miller
Former - Director of Parts and Accessory Sales
Warranty and Technical Support
Hobie Cat USA
(Retired 11/7/2022)

When were these changes made in production? I'm debating whether to make the video changes to my 2016 TI hull as I have some limited water leakage and bought mine in January.

Thanks!

My opinion is this fix is the best I have seen so far. It improves on the pressure seal to insure the main boundary seal is in static contact at rest. Even on my TI there was always a gap in the center where the seal was supposed to be in contact with the hull but it wasn't, even at rest.
However one flaw in the original design was it was a static pressure seal, and didn't allow for the hull flexing all over the place. An analogy would be to take a flat plate and press it against a soft Tupperware bowl filled with water, seals just fine until you start squeezing the bowl, which breaks from the flat surface and lets all the water out (pretty much what happens when the hull flexes, but the rigid lid doesn't flex.)
By adding the foam he has created a cork in a bottle type seal which can withstand much more flexing of the hull and still remain sealed.
I like it and will be doing the same.
FE