H18 Hatches replacement.

After my 18 sitting in the back yard since my son left to College and California 15 years ago, I am getting it together again. I am replacing the pop in rope hatch covers with the screw ones. The new hatch rings seem to have holes in a similar place to the old ones, but I note the old ones are not screwed on but seem to have plastic 'rivets'. I also did nor get any of theses or screws with the new hatches. Any suggestions on how to go about this? I didn't find anything on YouTube.

Carefully drill the heads off of the old rivets and then use a punch to drive the remaining shanks into the hull. Then carefully pry the old mounting rings off the decks and clean up as much of the old silicone as you can using a utility blade.

Once the old ring is off and the deck cleaned up, you can mount the new rings using size 10-24 or 8-32 stainless steel pan head machine screws, about 1” long, with flat washers, lock washers, and hex nuts to secure the new access port mounting ring to the deck. These types of screws should be available at Home Depot.

Before installing the ring, place a healthy bead of silicone caulk around the ring and in the mounting holes. Then install the screws and hardware and tighten them moderately. Finish by wiping away the excess silicone that squeezes out.

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Thanks for that. Just what I wanted.