We have booked our haulout for May 4th, and May 8th are on a plane to ST. Kitts to join our friends on Hanco for a few weeks. This past week we got a very important task finally completed. We needed to replace some hatches one in each head (for those who have been aboard you remember the ones that wouldn’t close) and one far forward over the port Bow locker (or toy storage). After finally getting the right tool, (a one inch scraper courtesy of Joost and his trip to the Ace) and about an hour of effort - each, Jim managed to pound the hatches out of the deck. I then proceeded to remove all the residual silicone and gunk leftover. We replaced one – and thought so highly of our efforts we promptly did the other two. We should have waited. The first one leaked…as did number 2 and 3 when we did our test, I can only say we were more than slightly disappointed at our efforts. However after a little consultation and some reviewing of our process we determined that the problem was one of lack of sealant. The process was complicated by the fact that we were only able to buy BLACK sealant…the white was gone. So my concerns about making a mess on the desk were legion and we used much too little sealant to get the job done. We ripped the hatches out, again, removed all the residual sealant from the frames (a 1.5 hour job, per hatch for me) then rebedded them. This process is quite tedious because it requires taping around the hatch placement…top and bottom, so that any residual sealant leaks out onto the tape and you can easily remove it from the deck. As it turns out, once the sealant has hardened it comes right off with very little effort, yet stays put under the hatches and makes a beautiful watertight seal…it’s a miracle. So after almost a week or on and off work we finally have three newly replaced, and watertight, hatches installed and functioning properly. Good thing we are not being paid by the hour though!