I want to paint the weed hatch cover. How best to do this?

[HenryFreeman]

Hey all, need to give the top side of the weed hatch cover a new coat of paint and replace the seal. Obviously I have to remove it, clean it up and paint it which all takes time.

 

How'd you do this without leaving the weed hatch open for longer than I'd feel comfortable it being open? Or am I over worrying?

 

Cheers!

[ditchcrawler]

Providing you don't move the boat and no one comes past at 10mph you should be OK

[PaulJ]

5 minutes ago, HenryFreeman said:

 

 

How'd you do this without leaving the weed hatch open for longer than I'd feel comfortable it being open? Or am I over worrying?

 

Cheers!

Will be OK unless you happen to have one where the water is very close to the top. 

Rare but there are some about like it.

If in doubt cut a bit of ply and it will do the job while you are painting

 

[HenryFreeman]

25 minutes ago, PaulJ said:

Will be OK unless you happen to have one where the water is very close to the top. 

Rare but there are some about like it.

If in doubt cut a bit of ply and it will do the job while you are painting

 

Nah, it's about 12-18 inches between the top of the weed hatch and the water. I'll fill up the water tank to lift the front up a bit more though, just in case.

[LadyG]

Red oxide

[booke23]

20 minutes ago, HenryFreeman said:

 

Nah, it's about 12-18 inches between the top of the weed hatch and the water. I'll fill up the water tank to lift the front up a bit more though, just in case.

 

You can always pump out the weed hatch a bit for extra safety. 

[HenryFreeman]

9 minutes ago, booke23 said:

 

You can always pump out the weed hatch a bit for extra safety. 

The entire canal? 😄

20 minutes ago, LadyG said:

Red oxide

 

Yeah, I think I've got a tin somewhere.

[MtB]

28 minutes ago, booke23 said:

 

You can always pump out the weed hatch a bit for extra safety. 

 

 

Or put some clingfilm over the top of it! 

 

[magnetman]

1 hour ago, HenryFreeman said:

 

. I'll fill up the water tank to lift the front up a bit more though, just in case.

Water tank at the back and weedhatch at the front is but unusual.

 

[blackrose]

If you need to cover the weedhatch while you're painting the cover then as someone else said, cut a piece of ply to size and clamp it on top. I did this when I was painting mine and even moved the boat a couple of times with the ply cover. If you want to move your boat test the ply cover first by going into gear while moored up. It's surprising how much water gets in unless you have a lot of clamps in place.

[Slim]

54 minutes ago, LadyG said:

Red oxide

Rubbish. Red oxide is fine as a primer but as a paint?? Dependant upon circumstances I would use something like Hammerite Smooth

[HenryFreeman]

11 minutes ago, magnetman said:

Water tank at the back and weedhatch at the front is but unusual.

 

 

That was a mistype. I meant lift the back up a bit.

[Francis Herne]

1 hour ago, booke23 said:

 

You can always pump out the weed hatch a bit for extra safety. 

I've seen someone trying to do this. After a few minutes they came over and asked for advice...

 

12-18 inches freeboard is plenty - probably more than your well deck scuppers, so filling the water tank may actually be counterproductive overall! Unless you turn the propeller or go to sea with it open there's no risk there.

Edited September 22, 2023 by Francis Herne

[David Mack]

47 minutes ago, Slim said:

Rubbish. Red oxide is fine as a primer but as a paint?? Dependant upon circumstances I would use something like Hammerite Smooth

Hammerite is rubbish too!

 

The underside at least ought to be painted with whatever blacking you use on your hull.

 

[Chewbacka]

43 minutes ago, HenryFreeman said:

 

That was a mistype. I meant lift the back up a bit.

We knew that really.

[HenryFreeman]

8 hours ago, Chewbacka said:

We knew that really.

Good!

[Slim]

11 hours ago, David Mack said:

Hammerite is rubbish too!

 

The underside at least ought to be painted with whatever blacking you use on your hull.

 

Must admit that I was talking about the outside of the hatch .

[ditchcrawler]

12 hours ago, David Mack said:

Hammerite is rubbish too!

 

The underside at least ought to be painted with whatever blacking you use on your hull.

 

I black mine when the hull is blacked

40 minutes ago, Slim said:

Must admit that I was talking about the outside of the hatch .

No need to take the lid off then

[LEO]

Read this posting with interest, am in the last days of my boating. almost breathing a sigh of relief...............who will make sure my beloved 2LW has the duvet tucked down...............no disrespect to OP......but in 1976 - we all wondered about the hail from the hire boater - 'hey I have been bailing out the weedhatch all evening and the level has not gone down' ------now about about that 2LW, it's in a nice tug.......

[cuthound]

16 hours ago, David Mack said:

Hammerite is rubbish too!

 

The underside at least ought to be painted with whatever blacking you use on your hull.

 

 

My weedhatch cover is painted with Danboline on the top side and epoxy blacking on the bottom (side exposed to the canal) to match the weedhatch itself.

[beerbeerbeerbeerbeer]

Weedhatch rusting through should be low priority, I’d have thought. ?
 

Anyone had their weed hatch overplated? 

 

Now making sure it seals is a priority. 
There’s been times the tape down my hatch has survived for a few years with countless removal of the hatch,

recently it seems to last only a few lifting outs

 

I blame it on the new fangled epoxy,

tape seems reluctant to stick to it. 
🤷‍♀️