Leaky old Gebo hatch

I had a leaky old Gebo hatch. Two other people I know had leaky old Gebo hatches, and after many attempts of getting them to stop leaking, they gave up, took out the hatch and replaced it by a new one.

I've also had many failed attempts of trying to stop the leaks, and sooner or later it starts leaking again. As I see it, most people like myself, do the attempt by using sealant on the glass around the outside of the frame. But I have come to realise that originally there never was sealant there. So I came to the point, should I give up on the sturdy old thing? I decided to give it a last chance by attempting to take it completely apart - if it can be done!

First point on the attempt was to check the internet and see if anybody had done it and had advise to offer - I found nothing! So I thought, if I do it, I'll share it with anyone else trying this.

Next point then was to study the hatch and see at what end to start. I discovered that the inner rubber list/seal could be pried out with a screwdriver.

The small plates on the side came off along with the rubber list...

With the rubber list off, the glass

slides out holding the hatch vertically. It sticks a little at the top under the lock that holds the glass with it's own rubber list.

The lock comes off easily once the glass is out.

Next job is to clear off the old sealant between the class and the topside of the frame. This is also the very clear reason that the hatch leaks as the sealant was ruined by old age...

Using lots of WD-40 is a brilliant method of both clearing off old sealant and restoring the rubber list.

Next I ran out of time to fulfil the job, and had to temporarily reassemble the hatch for now. Placing the glass and rubber-list back in the frame was easy, but.....

......I'm happy that the assembly wasn't permanent. I forgot to place the hatch-arms back in the lock before placing the glass back in, as they are impossible the insert after the glass and list are in place.

More to come....