Lewmar Ocean Series Hatches will always “craze” where tiny fissures in the plastic make them slowly more and more opaque and harder to see through. The smoked version that we have is also a great way for tropical heat to get into the boat while it is sitting at the dock. The Moody 46 is very wide open with large ports, windows, and such so these hatches are part of the ventilation alongside a significant amount of light. We had several requirements we wanted to include in this project.
- A cover to keep out the sun as much as possible.
- Able to withstand high winds without an issue.
- Would not accelerate the wear characteristics on the hatch glass.
- Would be easy to uninstall/remove when cruising.
We were able to achieve all of these objectives quickly with one phone call. First we got the model type and double checked all the measurements closely. We went with a cover by a company called Outland Hatch Covers. Please remember that we don’t get any kind of sponsorship, kick backs, specials, or other types of compensation when we mention a company. They don’t know we might write about them and while going through this refit nobody really knows who we are.
We have a Lewmar 70, 60, and four of the 30 Ocean Series hatches.
We had not actually realized the bow hatch was the larger size than the stern hatch. We talked at boat shows with a couple of companies on replacing the lenses which are original equipment. The cost is about half a new hatch and substantially less labor. We are just not sure we need to do it at this time.
Here you see the hatch cover fitted with the two special spin locks that attach to the actual hatch. The total time to install including cleaning of the hatch, the cover, and preparing everything? Well about fifteen minutes for all the hatches.
Once we got all the hatch covers done we measured the hatches for a decal to be installed. We like the white but wanted something that reflected the boat and our interests.
Here you can see the decals applied. Each of the decals only took a few minutes to install. The Sea Turtle can be found several places on the boat. On the bows there is a sea turtle and in the main salon a circular throw rug has a similar design.
The total cost for this project was approximately $500 inclusive of the 6 hatch covers, and the decals. Testing of ambient temperature in the boat and run time of the air conditioners suggest there is a remarkable improvement in cooling off the boat. We plan on insulating the entire deck and cabin top next year to get even better efficiency. The boat isn’t just a toy it is our home where we live full time. A cool bonus from this project is the turtles show through the covers and provide a little neato factor when you are sitting in any of the cabins with a hatch.