I just posted this on my TI3 build blog.
This might work but I still have to test the result.
Hope it might help you.
Water leakage thru the Hobie hatches....
Yesterday I hardly had any water in the kayak and still at times there were about 10cm (4") of water over the front hatch. I figured this would happen so before I set of for the test run I prepared the hatches. I cleaned the grooves and put new silicone grease on the rubberrings and assured there were in the right position.
Today I see again that the rubberrings allready has rotated and are twirled. Unfortunately Hobie has made the groove in the hatches a little to wide and this lets the rubberrings to slip and rotate. (Shape up Hobie!)
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Too cure this problem I will try this fix.
I put a small amount of Sikaflex in the grooves of the hatch to stabilize the rubberrings. Put on the Sikaflex with a small tops and tried to keep it tidy. I carefully smeared the thin layer of Sikaflex as evenly as possible and wiped off the excess från the edges of the hatch before reinserting the rubberrings.
I hope that the Sikaflex will keep the rubberring in place in the right position.
Then I put silicone grease on the edge of the hatch as usual.
I will report back if this was a succes (or maybe a total failiure).
It sure would be good to know that you can rely on the hatches not leaking.
/Gustav
Degrease the grove in the hatch and the rubber ring before applying Sikaflex! (I used etanol)