Re: 28' Marinette (Aluminum) - Restoration
I'm not sure how you'd ever keep rain or splash water from running into an open style piano hinges along the entire long side of 1 of those panels.
But on another forum, it was suggested to bed the hinge on a piece of nautolex that's the full width of both sides of the hinge. It should be stout enough to survive cycling thru the hatch opening & closing since that won't be a 20 or 30 times a day occurrence. And will keep water from leaking out the bottom side of the hinge. It may cause standing water in the hinge, since it can't drain out. It's a trade off I guess.
If the engine isn't directly under the entire length of the hinge, I suppose you could leave a couple gaps in the nautolex that would allow any water that gets thru the hinge, somewhere to drip that isn't directly over the engine........
Same forum suggested that a manufactured hinge backer was sold by Defender some time ago that performs the same purpose as the nautolex. They didn't post a specific name or brand & I couldn't find anything like what they described at Defender....
There are plastic "hinges" that are made to fit under a piano hinge to insure watertitghtness. Defender carried them at one time. The last roll (I have a few feet left) I bought from Boiacelli and Mercury in S. San Francisco...
Wow, is right, that stern corner's a mess..... The other similar?
Good luck
