Return to Hobie.com
Hobie Forums
It is currently Thu Mar 28, 2024 2:39 am

All times are UTC - 8 hours [ DST ]




Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 77 posts ]  Go to page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6  Next
Author Message
PostPosted: Sun Jan 20, 2013 2:49 pm 
Offline
Site Rank - Old Salt

Joined: Tue Jun 19, 2007 6:14 pm
Posts: 3323
Location: South Florida
After continual problems with my front hatch seals, which led to considerable leakage, I have changed the seal. A trip to Home Depot turned up some split pipe insulation which slips nicely over the original seal of the front hatch opening. The pipe insulation has a 5/8 inch (1.6 cm) diameter grove. Wall thickness is .5 inch (1.27 cm). The pictures show the insulation.
Image

Image


This picture shows the insulation fit over the original hatch seal. The ends of the insulation were then glued together (Superglue, I believe.) The clamps are to hold the ends until the glue takes hold. The split tubing also has adhesive on the surface of the split. Leave the protective strip on the adhesive until after fitting the insulation seal over the original Hobie seal and until after the ends of the seal area glued. Then, simply lift up the edge of the seal, grasp the protective strip and pull it out while pressing the adhesive side to the flange of the Hobie seal. This sounds more complicated than it is. It takes a few seconds to remove the strip and glue the new seal to the flange. This adhesive fixes the split surface to the flange of the original Hobie seal. Very convenient.
Image

The finished seal:
Image


The hatch cover fits snuggly over the new seal.
Image


I think this new seal is going to effectively prevent leakage through the front hatch. I costs about 7 US$ and is easy to apply. I don’t know about the resiliency of the seal—will it recover after being pressed firmly by the hatch cover for an extended period. Also, I don’t know about its durability--it tears easily. Time and a few trips will tell.

Caution: There are 2 versions of this Armacell material. I used the rubber version which costs $5.25 online (http://www.homedepot.com/p/Armacell-1-2-in-x-6-ft-Rubber-Self-Seal-Pipe-Wrap-Insulation-HST05812/100550644).

A second version made of polyethylene costs $1.64 online (http://www.homedepot.com/p/Armacell-Tubolit-1-2-in-x-6-ft-Polyethylene-Self-Seal-Pipe-Wrap-Insulation-OES05838/100572231)
.


Keith

_________________
2015 AI 2, 2014 Tandem

"Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex ... It takes a touch of genius and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction." A. Einstein

"Less is more" Anon


Last edited by Chekika on Sat Apr 27, 2013 6:32 am, edited 4 times in total.

Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Sun Jan 20, 2013 7:07 pm 
Offline
Site Rank - Old Salt

Joined: Thu Aug 16, 2007 2:25 pm
Posts: 2863
Location: Central Coast NSW Australia
Now that's a seal!
Nice work Keith. 8)
Looking forward to the follow up.


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Mon Jan 21, 2013 3:14 am 
Offline
Site Rank - Admiral

Joined: Wed Oct 06, 2010 2:53 am
Posts: 289
Location: Sollentuna, Sweden, Europe
Very interesting idea! Also looking forward to the follow up.
For sure this kind of sealing will compensate for a bad cut of hatch cover and hatch opening.
I am now (we have winter season with lots of ice) struggling in my garage with the missfit between cover and hull opening on my 2012 AI. Slowly, step by step, taking away material and getting a better fit.
Major problem are two:
1, As I take away material, the mountings of the sealings come closer to each other.
2, Very delicate to make two sealing surfaces to seal at same time.

Possible weak points in your idea: Will the adhesive hold for salt water?

God luck!

br thomas


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Mon Jan 21, 2013 4:57 am 
Offline
Site Rank - Old Salt

Joined: Fri May 08, 2009 5:06 am
Posts: 1701
Location: Lake Macquarie NSW AUSTRALIA
Certainly looks like it should work Keith. I don't seem to have a problem with mine. Dunno why. Luck of the draw I suppose. Virtually nothing getting in. And I reckon the small amount that does, is coming from the rear hatch 'O' ring not sealing. Please keep us posted.

_________________
Image

Don't take life too seriously................it ain't permanent.


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Mon Jan 21, 2013 9:19 pm 
Offline
Site Rank - Old Salt

Joined: Tue May 18, 2010 2:31 pm
Posts: 3068
Location: Kailua 96734
Ah,..That's the super soft stuff. I've used it for other projects.

It will compress and shred in no time. Also the adhesives no good for this job. But if you suffer leaks and are planning a brutal trip - it's a good temp idea.


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Tue Jan 22, 2013 7:19 am 
Offline
Site Rank - Old Salt

Joined: Wed Jan 25, 2012 5:30 am
Posts: 429
Location: Gulf Shores, Alabama
Keith I completely agree with NOHUHU that your new seal will disintegrate very quickly. I wouldn't even use it temporarily.

Coincidentally I took my front hatch to tackle shack in Pinellas Park, Fl with a seal that was falling apart. I wanted to hear what their take was on fixing these as they move a lot of AI's and are pretty innovative.

They cut me a piece of new seal which is beautiful. You install it with no adhesives whatsoever. First you must remove the old seal and the black piece under the seal. This new seal presses on directly to the hatch. It's going to be a nice tight fit with a solid seal.

Image


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Tue Jan 22, 2013 10:37 am 
Offline
Site Rank - Old Salt

Joined: Tue Jun 19, 2007 6:14 pm
Posts: 3323
Location: South Florida
Sure can't argue with either of you fellows (CaptChaos, NOHUHU), but, I'm going to give it a try. It is certainly delicate stuff, but I know that, so I'm going to treat it carefully. As far as adhesive, it is contact adhesive , but not in contact mode--simply one contact surface sealing to original Hobie seal surface. I used marine glue where I glued the ends together. One of my points here is that Hobie needs to make a more robust seal for the front hatch.

Jim, I have replaced the hatch cover seal, just as you show in your picture. My recent problems have to do with the hatch-opening seal. I did not have a leak problem until my hatch-opening seal came loose. I re-glued it. My re-glued hatch-opening seal looks good, but my front hatch began to leak seriously on our recent camping trips. If you think about it, when your front hatch leaks, it is both seals that must be leaking.

If I don't give my insulation seal a try, I would always be wondering if it might have worked.

Keith

_________________
2015 AI 2, 2014 Tandem

"Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex ... It takes a touch of genius and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction." A. Einstein

"Less is more" Anon


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Tue Jan 22, 2013 11:00 am 
Offline
Site Admin

Joined: Tue May 27, 2003 12:44 pm
Posts: 15026
Location: Oceanside, California
Quote:
One of my points here is that Hobie needs to make a more robust seal for the front hatch.


This was done over a year ago. The seals we buy now are extruded as one piece combining the bulb and the flange attachment as one piece instead of glued. #71301001 PER FOOT.

We also have the Pro Angler seal available which is a larger bulb (still glued though).

The final change done was altering the orientation of the hull seal flange to be vertical instead of at a right angle. All seals are now of the top molded variety.

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


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Tue Jan 22, 2013 12:08 pm 
Offline
Site Rank - Captain

Joined: Sun Dec 30, 2012 12:24 pm
Posts: 71
Location: NJ
Hey guys check out what i came up with for this problem

viewtopic.php?f=69&t=46323


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Tue Jan 22, 2013 1:58 pm 
Offline
Site Rank - Old Salt

Joined: Tue May 18, 2010 2:31 pm
Posts: 3068
Location: Kailua 96734
Red duct tape will keep it 100% dry. I guaranty it... :lol:

Here's the product closeups of the old (left) and new HATCH seals (right) for illustration. I assume this is what you have Keith?

Image

Will they fit any age AI/TI?

What's the cost of conversion? Around 5' is needed.

Is there a closeup of the bottom HULL seal?

I haven't heard any accolades of the new seals here, but they seem like the way to go.


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Tue Jan 22, 2013 2:49 pm 
Offline
Site Rank - Admiral

Joined: Wed Oct 06, 2010 2:53 am
Posts: 289
Location: Sollentuna, Sweden, Europe
Chekika wrote:
One of my points here is that Hobie needs to make a more robust seal for the front hatch.
I more suspect a misfit cut of both hatch cover and hatch opening in hull.

Chekika wrote:
I did not have a leak problem until my hatch-opening seal came loose. I re-glued it. My re-glued hatch-opening seal looks good, but my front hatch began to leak seriously on our recent camping trips. If you think about it, when your front hatch leaks, it is both seals that must be leaking.

What you are saying is in fact that your hatch-cover seal was leaking from the beginning, and still is. Also that your hatch-opening seal was the only watertight seal from the beginning. But when you re-glued the seal, it did not came in same position as the one Hobie factory mounted. If you pressed the seal down properly until it stopped (as I think you should do), maybe it followed the wrongly, to deep cut (longsides) in the hull. I claim that Hobie did not glued the seal in line with the cut in the hull. But you did. Therefore it now leaks. (Sorry for my bad english but I hope you got what I meant)

Oh yes, this is just a theory! But I have my own problems with front hatch leaking and my thinking is somewhat orientated around what I see on my own hatch cover and hatch opening.

br thomas


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Tue Jan 22, 2013 5:42 pm 
Offline
Site Rank - Captain

Joined: Sun Dec 30, 2012 12:24 pm
Posts: 71
Location: NJ
I believe its 2.99 per foot...so 15$


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Wed Jan 23, 2013 4:54 am 
Offline
Site Rank - Old Salt

Joined: Tue Jun 19, 2007 6:14 pm
Posts: 3323
Location: South Florida
NOHUHU--I have the new molded seal on the hatch cover. The hatch opening is the original glued seal. The new molded seal has a very light bubble and relatively small diameter. Why doesn't Hobie double the diameter and stiffen the bubble material??

Kal-P-Dal--Sounds like a good theory.

This thread has given me a new idea. I might never test my new insulation seal--I do think it is the right size and will seal the hatch, but durability will be a problem.

Keith

PS I'm one of apparently millions of AT&T customers without U-verse service (no internet, no home phone.) I'm setting in front of an AT&T office doing my work.

_________________
2015 AI 2, 2014 Tandem

"Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex ... It takes a touch of genius and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction." A. Einstein

"Less is more" Anon


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Wed Jan 23, 2013 10:18 am 
Offline
Site Admin

Joined: Tue May 27, 2003 12:44 pm
Posts: 15026
Location: Oceanside, California
We use a larger bulb on the (much) larger and flexible PA hatches. I believe it is still a glued variety though. We, as noted changed the orientation of the seal on the hull to match the lid version, so same seal is now used on both. If you have an older Adventure hull that has the "side" glued type seal... there is no new replacement option, but... you could cut the flange off to match / update to the current orientation. I'd imagine that is not a simple task though.

These are not Hobie designed seals. They are off the shelf supplies from Trim-Lok. They have tons of options, but only seem to sell in 200' boxes.

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


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Wed Jan 23, 2013 5:54 pm 
Offline
Site Rank - Old Salt

Joined: Tue Jun 19, 2007 6:14 pm
Posts: 3323
Location: South Florida
Matt, thanks for your participation in this thread. What would help would be a picture of a cross-cut view of all of Hobie's hatch seals, side by side. It would be similar to NOHUHU's picture above but maybe with 5-10 seals. If the Hobie stock # were given, we could make a choice.

Keith

_________________
2015 AI 2, 2014 Tandem

"Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex ... It takes a touch of genius and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction." A. Einstein

"Less is more" Anon


Top
 Profile  
 
Display posts from previous:  Sort by  
Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 77 posts ]  Go to page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6  Next

All times are UTC - 8 hours [ DST ]


Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 2 guests


You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum

Jump to:  
© Hobie Cat Company. All rights reserved.
Powered by phpBB® Forum Software © phpBB Group