Taylor Made

If you have more than a casual interest in boating, it's likely that you've heard of Taylor Made marine products. If you own anything but a high end yacht, it's likely that you own a Taylor Made product. We have several and that small hatch shown above is one of them.

We've gotten past the "fix that right now" stage of boat ownership to the "let's fix that before it breaks" mode and that's what we did this weekend. Case in point: one of the two small Taylor Made hatches, this one over our guest berths. It didn't leak and never has but it also didn't open. Time to get out the tools and take it apart.

But first, let's get this out of the way: No criticism of how the Taylor Made hatch was made. For its time, 36 years ago, it was probably a fine and inexpensive hatch and many thousands of Silverton boats came equipped with them, ours included.

To open the old hatch, we disconnected the two sliding struts from inside. The gasket around the hatch was in amazingly good condition but the struts were frozen. The two latches, one missing its knob, were also removed. Don't think these things were supposed to squeak when turned, but both of ours did.

With all the hardware removed and the hatch glass cleaned, we hit the local Ace Hardware for some new 8-32 stainless bolts and matching stop nuts and washers. We also bought some large neoprene washers, which we trimmed to fit.

The struts required a little more work. Penetrating oil eventually got them working and a lot of intense work with steel wool burnished off most of the corrosion. The missing knob was replaced with a wing nut that no one will ever notice. Better yet, it works, just like the missing knob did.

With all of the parts laid out on the deck and all of our tools in place for reassembly, a really spectacular thunderstorm blew in, forcing us back inside.

Once the weather cleared, we finished installing the parts and enjoyed being able to open and close that hatch easily.

But, at least for us, opening those hatches will be rare. In warm weather, our air conditioning makes the boat very comfortable. Underway, in most conditions, running with those hatches open invites hull spray or even water into the boat. Maybe the occasional guest in that berth may want to open that hatch and if so, they can.

At least now, the damn hatch opens and closes as it should.