My '07 AI and my wife's '09 do not leak in the front hatch. In our case, it is very easy to see in practice if they leak because we have gear underneath the hatch cover. If it leaks, that gear gets wet. I have had 2 instances when the front hatch has leaked. Once when I overloaded the bow and had to force the front hatch cover down before bungeeing--it leaked that day. The second time a friend was using my wife's boat. He put his fish net (a round metal frame fish net) under the front hatch bungees. That apparently was enough to distort the hatch cover compromizing the seal. The front hatch leaked. Next day, at my suggestion, he did not have the net bungeed on the front hatch, and it did not leak.
When I store the AIs, I don't bungee the front hatch (aka ElementAI), and I totally remove the cover so as to not permanently compress the rubber hatch seal.
In my experience, the front hatch does not leak unless the seal has been compromized in some way.
Keith
_________________ 2015 AI 2, 2014 Tandem
"Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex ... It takes a touch of genius and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction." A. Einstein
"Less is more" Anon
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