444 Lazarette (cockpit) Hatch Seal

[Cooldogz]

My 2002 444 MY had not seal on the cockpit lazarette hatch. Needless to say it is letting water in the lazarette. I attempted to put a seal on the top of the rounded edge of the deck (the part the hatch rest on when closed), and another piece on the hatch itself to make a seal. It did not work. Anyone know the correct seal or gasket for this application. If not suggestions would be nice. Should the gasket actually make the seal on the top of the deck to bottom of the hatch, or on the lip of the hatch sealing to the side of the rounded “gutter”?

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Any suggestions would be great, or hopefully someone has already addressed this issue. Thanks.

[bud37]

Welcome to the forum.......couple questions.
Where on the perimeter is the water getting in and does the hatch gutter drain to anywhere ?

Perhaps it is just getting overcome. Now on a different boat but same idea with a seal much like what I see you have, I had leaking thru the hatch pull, also the angle of the drain gutter was too level making heavy rain overflow if the drain gutter was not quite clean. Perhaps someone with the exact same boat can chime in.....

[Tireless]

Cooldogz, I have a 44 Carver CMY and I have the same lazerette hatch. There are no seals in this area and there has never been any. You should not have to put a rubber seal there. As mentioned by Viper, the gutter that the hatch sits into should drain to the rear perimeter gutter of the cockpit floor and then out the drains on the port and starboard side of the boat.

Sometimes the drains to the outside of the boat can get plugged with debris, like maple keys, leaves and other debris will not allow the water to drain from the perimeter of the cockpit floor, therefore not allowing the water to run out of the gutter that your lazerette hatch sits into. Make sure the water flows from the area of the hatch via the gutter that you speak of.

I have washed my cockpit with a hose and have never had a significant amount of water go into the rear bilge of the boat under the cockpit. The only way I could see that happen is described above.

I would check the drains located on each side of the cockpit floor near the aft corners to see if they are plugged. If they are, I find that a 1/4" plastic tubing pushed into the drain can clear it up, or a strong stream of water from a hose or a power washer should blow it clear. The water should not build up as the drains are large enough to drain the water rather quickly.

You can check if it drains properly by looking for water biuld up, or looking under each side of the swim platform, near the boot stripe. There is a 1 1/2" +- hole facing aft above the water line.

Hope this helps you. Please let me know.

Greg

[Cooldogz]

Tireless,
Thank you for the info (As well as bud37). I think you (both) are probably correct. I looked and I think you are correct about the blockage of the drains. I will attempt the clean out as suggested. I am currently on the hard so the overboard drains may be easier to access from the outside of the boat. I am also replacing (remove and rebed) the hatch pull. It appears that there is no wall/bulkhead between the swim platform (internal) and the lazarette, so any water in the swim platform flows straight into the lazarette. I only noticed because my new stern thruster is already rusting. I am going to fix the drain and then the “Leakey” platform.

Thanks again both of you gentlemen.

[Tireless]

Source of the post As mentioned by Viper, the gutter that the hatch sits into should drain to the rear perimeter gutter of the cockpit floor and then out the drains on the port and starboard side of the boat.

Sorry Bud37, I mentioned Viper in the thread. I misspoke. It’s an age thing.lol.

Greg