There have been a lot of posts regarding replacement of the trapezoidal forward hatch on H25s and 27s (Both boats use the same hatch). When I bought my boat, the hatch was not attached by anything like a hinge, and held to the deck with a piece of light line tied to the toe rails.

Needless to say, it leaked like a sieve.

When I was shopping, I had no luck finding the drop-in replacement, and the recommended replacement from Pompanette was about an inch and a half too long (front to back). Since I dont do too well with fiberglass work, and cant cut a straight line to save my life, I looked for other options. What I found was the Lewmar Ocean 60 flush mount hatch- It has no flange to worry about, and it appeared that all the hinge/latch hardware would fit into the opening on the deck. I ordered it and looked forward to dry nights in the V-berth.

Hatch Closed

This photo shows the hatch standing open. The only thing that holds the hatch in place is friction in the hinges; Theres no seperate spring or slide mechanism. Tension on the hinge is easily adjusted with an allen wrench (not supplied). The hatch will open all the way back to the mast, if you so desire (Great for the windscoop!)

If you look closely, you can see the trapezoidal hole under the hatch. The hole is narrower towards the bow, and the hatch just barely covers the opening at the stern.

Hatch open, from bow

Another view from the deck, to try and show the shape of the opening. Also, you can see the screw pattern around the hatch. Getting to the screws in and around the hinges was a pain, but do-able if you have a long screwdriver.

Another view from the deck.

This photo shows how the forward corners look. If you werent looking for it, you wouldnt notice the odd shape of the hatch... One of these days Ill paint this to match the rest of the boat! (My main goal wasnt to look great, it was to keep the rain off my head when Im in the V-berth.)

Forward corner

This was taken from inside the boat, looking forward from the head.

From inside, Hatch closed

This was taken looking aft, from the V-berth. Notice that all the hardware JUST fits into the deck opening (Whew!).

The whole job took about 2 hours to complete, not counting the time I need to spend touching up paint and removing the old bedding compound from the deck cutout.

There is one small leak in my installation, due to a hatch defect (the hinge leaks just a tiny bit). It drips onto the porta-head, so I dont worry about it.

Questions, tips, or comments?

--Jon Bastien
H25 Adagio

From inside, again