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E 27 Companionway Hatch removal

chuckd

Member I
Does anyone know how to remove the main hatch from an e 27 with a cabin top traveler? Will I need to remove the traveler? I need to rework the laminate on the top and I'd like to get that done in the garage. Only problem, I'm not sure how to remove the hatch, and before going and tearing off unnecessary items, I thought I'd ask.

- thanks

Chuck
 

Desiderata

Member II
Hi Chuck,

We recently removed our E-27's main hatch to rework the frame only. We needed some time to save up for the teak to do the top section. we now have the required teak (beeeg piece of teak decking) and will take it apart again quite soon. We too have the traveller mounted across the companionway and yes, the traveller needs to be at least loosened to be able to get the hatch out. The good news is, its not that hard to do. if you look inside the cabin in the area in question, you'll find caps covering the bolts likely holding the traveller down. Pop the caps off and take the nuts off (mine were 7/16ths) using a deep socket. Also remove the screws that hold the aluminum strips that guide the hatch forward and back. You'll likely need to devise a temporary hatch arrangement while you rework the hatch.I plan to use a method I found on our site to make the aluminum strips look like new, sanding them with 400 grit wet or dry sand paper, the again with 600 grit and finally using "Never Dull" to hone them to a bright shine. I recently used this technique on my window frames and WOW were the results ever worth the work! We'll need to re-embed the traveller when re-installing it. Ours was gooped up with silicone caulk, but perhaps one our fellow Ericsonians has advice on a superior method (?) Good luck!

Mike McNulty "Desiderata":egrin:
 

rgoff

Member III
I believe on my '73 E27 I could remove the traveler "bar" from the mounts and not have to go inside the cabin to remove the mounts. Been a while, though. Look on the underside of the mounts for nuts holding the horizontal bar on.
 

Jeff Asbury

Principal Partner
I have seen at least two kinds of Companion Way hatch covers on E-27's. One is constructed with teak slats that form the curved hatch and the other, like mine is formed marine ply laminate with teak veneer on top with solid teak parts on the sides as well as for and aft. To remove mine, I simply drilled out the teak plugs and then removed the screws. I now actually have not put in new plugs so that I can now simply remove the screws, slide the hatch forward under the traveler and remove it to do maintenance varnish coats when I need to. See the pic. Drill out plugs and remove screws indicated by small arrows. Remove the aft section of teak. Slide hatch forward under traveler to remove. No need the remove traveler.

Good Luck Jeff
 

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chuckd

Member I
Thanks guys

Thanks for all the info, that should be what I need. I'll post some pics of te refurbished hatch when complete.

Chuck
 

aaronwestward

Learning to sail
To remove mine, I simply drilled out the teak plugs and then removed the screws. I now actually have not put in new plugs so that I can now simply remove the screws, slide the hatch forward under the traveler and remove it to do maintenance varnish coats when I need to. See the pic. Drill out plugs and remove screws indicated by small arrows. Remove the aft section of teak. Slide hatch forward under traveler to remove. No need the remove traveler.

I tried this without thinking, and realized I had another problem: a previous owner had installed a deck organizer near the mast, which prevents the hatch from being able to slide all the way.
So I tried doing it the other way: I removed the screws from the fore side of the hatch too, and it slid off to aft. Removing the aft part served no real purpose, but it might give me the chance to attack some rot taking hold there.

But in doing so, I noticed something else. The teak ridge on the top of my hatch does not fit under my traveler, even the base of your traveler looks remarkably similar. The legs on mind are much shorter, and even have a peice of marine plywood raising the traveler an inch higher so it barely clears the top itself. I think one or both of our travelers are not stock; since yours is nicer, I'm guessing yours. So even if I hadn't had the conflict with the teck organizer, I would have had a conflict with the traveller. In my instance, it's super-easy to take the traveler rail off, if it had come to that.
I discovered I didn't particularly like Don Casey's method of bung removal: screwing in a screw, and keep turning. I aborted after trying just one, because it seemed as likely to destroy that entire part of the wood as anything else. I ended up underdrilling and then using a dremel tool to clean up. The fore end seemed in worse shape that the aft: the bung spacing is irregular; three of the bungs had larger screws than the others, one screw broke while screwing it out, and one bung didn't seem to have anything underneath it at all. It appears that the bungs were glued in with epoxy, or something similarly-colored, as I had to scratch it out of the screwheads.

Pulling off the end peice wasn't so bad, probably assisted by the water instrusion, but it's not that pretty, pulling off about as much wood as it did glue. I can't imagine ever signing up to doing this again; as long as the protected parts of it pass inspection tomorrow, I'm going forward under the assumption that all of the bungs are going back in, etc. Leaving exposed fasteners seems like a bad idea in any case, if water can get around them, varnish or no varnish. This happened to a few of my screws, and they didn't screw out so much as they were pulled out.
 

toddster

Curator of Broken Parts
Blogs Author
:confused: I thought the way to do it was to unscrew the metal rails. Thereby not messing up the nice joinery on a good hatch. (If I ever get around to building a good hatch.)
 

aaronwestward

Learning to sail
:confused: I thought the way to do it was to unscrew the metal rails. Thereby not messing up the nice joinery on a good hatch. (If I ever get around to building a good hatch.)

The reason I didn't go this route was that it wasn't clear this would work (I have an additional handrail over the companionway, bolted to the deck.), and it would mean resealing the rails. I figured this was a bigger unknown that partly disassembling the hatch, which I need to refinish anyway.
 

aaronwestward

Learning to sail
:confused: I thought the way to do it was to unscrew the metal rails. Thereby not messing up the nice joinery on a good hatch. (If I ever get around to building a good hatch.)

OK, I've reexamined this, and I agree with toddster completely. The metal rails come off trivially. There's no backing hardware, and they're super-easy to reseal etc; it's just affixed with self-tapping screws. On my boat, the middle screws are missing, probably because there's no actual way to get it in without disassembling the hatch. The aft half of the rails were sealed with silicon, and the fore half wasn't sealed at all. I'll probably reseal with something a little more substantial than silicon when I put them back on.
 

Andrew Means

Member III
I'm late to the game here (and I have a cockpit traveler) but removing the rails is by far the easiest thing for me. I actually ended up coring out the rail holes and filling them with epoxy so I don't have to re-seal them each time I remove the hatch cover (which hopefully won't happen often, but...)
 
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