Edge Guard for Galley Hatch

[pandron]

And the exterior after the fix:

• This reply was modified 4 years, 2 months ago by pandron.

[pandron]

And for reference, this is the lid BEFORE the fix so you know what I was dealing with:

[pandron]

I just wanted to jump back in here and save anyone who planned to follow bad my two-string solution to the galley hatch deformation.  The second string (upper one near the spring pistons) does NOT fit when the galley module is installed.  The lower one is just fine and fixes about 70% of the problem, but not 100%… So I’ll probably have to add side-latches at some point to get a really good seal.  Oh well.

[wudboatVT]

I added side-latches — and haven’t regretted them at all. In fact, I’ve grown to love knowing the hatch won’t open by itself while being towed. Sure it’s overkill, but I think they’re a good move.

• This reply was modified 4 years ago by wudboatVT.

[madebymike60]

My galley also leaked to start with. I’ve tried a few ideas and one or more seems to have solved the problem. I’ve only tested with a hose so a good rain while driving might prove that incorrect. Anyway, for background, I partially glassed inside the hatch and installed a stiffener as well. The gutter gasket and kit foam gasket were both installed as well as I could, following the manual. Finally, I replaced the hatch supports for stronger ones because of extra weight – stiffener, lights, two latches, etc. Here are the things I tried to prevent leaks:

First I replaced the supplied foam with this. After reading in another post a response from CLC about how the two supplied gaskets are not necessarily supposed to meet to keep water out, I thought this one would work better as a ‘drip edge’ because it comes a little more to a point versus the flat surface of the supplied foam. Where it changes direction at the top of the hatch, it doesn’t adhere nice and flat, like the supplied foam also didn’t (for me anyway). I pushed a small amount of butyl tape putty into those gaps and it seems to be working. Time will tell though.

Second, even though my galley hatch fit pretty well, I used two cam latches about two feet apart to hold it closed instead of the single clasp in the middle. Two latching points narrowed the gaps between hatch sides and camper a little more than one.

Finally, what seems to help quite a bit was detaching the hatch supports. With them in place there is 40 pounds of force pushing up on the hatch at two different spots. I unhooked the supports at the top, secured the two latches and the gaps between camper sides and hatch were noticeably smaller. They only take a few seconds to reattach so I’ll likely leave them loose while traveling and/or if rain is expected.

[madebymike60]

Here is the better (smaller) of the two side gaps with the galley hatch supports detached. The other side is a little bigger but still pretty small. There’s very little room for water to even get in and what does should not get past the two gaskets. With the supports attached, the gap is about double.

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