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    Front Hatch Replacment
    Me and my dad took out our 1981 RL24 on the lake last weekend. When we were running the wind went through the cabin and blew out our front hatch, possibly wasn't secured shut. Does anyone know of replacement parts? Was only able to find some really expensive aftermarket front hatches. Otherwise what I was looking at doing was a clear vinyl window and use either a Velcro or zipper setup to secure it. Do you think that would work well or once waves come over the bow would it just blow it out and come rushing in?
    Sterling30-Oct-2014    Edit    Delete 
    Re: Front Hatch Replacment
    I would suggest making a new hatch out of plexiglass. You can bend it with a paint stripper gun. Basically, you lay it on a table (like the edge of your table saw) with the place where you want it to bend hanging over the edge. Clamp a piece of wood over the top of the plexiglass to hold it flat so it doesn't bow up in the middle. have another piece of wood handy so once its soft, you can hold the bend in it without burning your hand. Heat it up and put the bend in it. Make sure you get it evenly hot all the way across or it will bow in the middle. You can probably bend it slightly more than the angle of the cabin roof. Once you lay it on the roof, you can heat it real slow so it will unbend just enough to match the cabin roof bend. Be careful not to get it too hot or it will boil/bubble.

    You could also make it out of polycarbonate, but of course that is tons more expensive. Either one will bend easily with heat. I've made several things custom shaped this way. Its pretty easy to do and fairly forgiving. Done well, it should look OEM.

    Something else I should add, Take a piece of cardboard and use that to make a templet for the hole. Then you can flatten the cardboard back out and use it to cut the shape of the cover before you bend it.
    Daveinet31-Oct-2014    Edit    Delete 

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