A while back there was some discussion about the knobs on Atkin and Hoyle deck hatchs. I have found the removal of the retaining screws impossible as you all have said, my approach is to close knobs completely until the "L" SHAPED HANDLE inside is against the cabin top and then I twist off the knob with a 24" set of channel lock pliers. The little #6 or #8 /32 machine screw shears off. Then I take the knob to my shop and mount it in a vise and drill out the peice. You can also just leave it there and drill and tap a new hole somewhere else, there would be room on the knob to do that several times. To make it simple for me, I just disregard the tapping process and use a longer machine screw with a locking nut, the knob may wiggle a little but I can remove it easily next time with no drilling. To stop a slight water leak from the latch seal under the knob I tried to get new seals from A&H but they were away on vacation so as an expedient remedy I used a common 1/2" "O" ring under the shim washer but directly on top of the seal in the lense. The "O" ring seems to compliment the original style seal and now there is no, none, nada water leaking there, cost of O-ring 50 cents, cost of A&H supplied seal, priceless, if they agree to sell you one. It may be obvious but just in case, there are 3 or more thin plastic washers on the handle/knob shaft that can be used to adjust the down force of the lense frame to the rubber gasket. moving one from under the lense to on top under the knob will pull the hatch closed with more force. The whole frame is secured to the deck with coarse wood screws that really are engaging only one or two threads in the upper fiberglass layer of the deck. If you try to tighten the screws, the screws pull up a slight crown of the deck or strip out the fiberglass, on Windfall I thru bolted the forward hatch using blind nuts under deck that get covered by the interior hatch trim.
Sam
|