Contact Allis Racing at 925-210-0596 for information.

How do you get in touch with Allis Racing for their conversion kit?

You guys make it way to complicated. I just replaced my hatch with the new lightweight Lewmar low profile ocean series. Much lighter and stronger than ever before. Work completion took two people one afternoon and 12 beers.

Phil Sustronk

Thanks, we just picked up our boat today, and it has the new style hatch, which i was pleased to find.

The switch was made in 1980 (some time around hull 1800-1900, I think). The old style companionway hatch has two pieces which slide and the new style has a fixed "sea hood" at the forward end and only one sliding piece. the new style has the advantages of increasing clearance between boom and companionway and allowing the mounting of hardware on the sea hood. The old forward hatch is about 24" square and is made of fiberglass, while the new style is smaller (20"?) and made of plastic. The even newer boats have a nice Lewmar aluminum/lexan hatch. Allis Racing sells "conversion kits" for both hatches, allowing you to convert the old styles to new.

We just bought a used J24, which is in excellent condition, the guy took great care of it and everything, but i was just wondering what exactly to look for to see if the hatch is the old or new style, and what year was the old style changed to the new, thanks a lot

Read the thread on aft hatch replacement, lots of good ideas there. I'm in the middle of doing one right now. In some earlier entries on the aft replacement thread I think I alluded to a $2k job that you could not tell from being original..... time takes it's toll... the job is looking like about $2400. now. You CAN do it yourself, but it really helps to have the right tools and be really comfortable with resins, gelcoat, and fairing. If cosmetics are not a major concern you could likely do it yourself for about 1/2 of the above #.

WEASEL!

Oh, more thing....has anybody out there had the privlage of removing the old Companion way and upgrading to the "new style" companion way. Any help or directions would be great! This looks like a fairly big project, but one that can be done. I'm just a little nervous about getting the Sawzall out before I get some sort of direction? And if you have any leads on the new kit would be ultra cool. I need to get those leg beaters off...

WEASEL!

I have a 78' number 429, I want to get rid of that old unsafe, ugly hatch. Does anybody out there have a used one the want to sell me??

The forward hatch on my 1979 #1907 is not very strong, it is very flimsy. If someone walks on it it could break very easily causing great pain and discomfort. I am racing next summer with a foredeck guy who weighs about 200+ lbs. and I really need to reinforce it. Any solutions? I just can't justify sending TPI $400+ for this.

I have #786 with the old style front hatch that was reinforced by the previous owner and has held up well (I purchased 786 in early 1995). The reinforcing consists of two diagonal supports made from 3/4 marine (or other) plywood cut to match the contour of the hatch, notched to cross each other, and rounded off on the bottom to avoid any snags. They were glassed to the hatch and have performed well and have allowed me to delay the purchase of a new hatch.

I have #1274 with an old style hatch. I glassed in a sheet of 12 oz. cloth on the underside. Then I bedded 5 1/2" mohagany strips on top of that running fore and aft and glassed them in with strips of 9 oz cloth. It nice not having any reinforcements on the outside and now I can walk on the hatch with confidence. I'm also fortunate to have a lightweight on the bow.

CARL: You can fix your hatch stronger than TPI's fix for about $20.oo. But Don't put the wood core in that Msrs Carter & Reyes suggested. Needless weight, and blocks light. I've had #1029 since 1979, and all of us fat boys have yet to break my reinforced original hatch. A) Using mylar or some other semi-stiff semi translucent plastic like stuff, form 4 "tubes" with a triangular cross section, abt 1 1/2" deep at one end, abt 1/2" deep at other end. Length should be from one corner of hatch to center of hatch. Use a bit of clear tape to hold "tubes" closed. B) Tape the four tubes to the bottom side of the hatch, and adjust fit to same height, even, etc etc. C) Using epoxy and light cloth (6 oz works fine), lay a strip of glass along each tube, extending abt 1"on each side. D) Lay a second strip of epoxy/cloth extending abt 2" out from side of each tube.
Light, Clean on top, clean on bottom, & V strong. Have fun

CARL: You can fix your hatch stronger than TPI's fix for about $20.oo. But Don't put the wood core in that Msrs Carter & Reyes suggested. Needless weight, and blocks light. I've had #1029 since 1979, and all of us fat boys have yet to break my reinforced original hatch. A) Using mylar or some other semi-stiff semi translucent plastic like stuff, form 4 "tubes" with a triangular cross section, abt 1 1/2" deep at one end, abt 1/2" deep at other end. Length should be from one corner of hatch to center of hatch. Use a bit of clear tape to hold "tubes" closed. B) Tape the four tubes to the bottom side of the hatch, and adjust fit to same height, even, etc etc. C) Using epoxy and light cloth (6 oz works fine), lay a strip of glass along each tube, extending abt 1"on each side. D) Lay a second strip of epoxy/cloth extending abt 2" out from side of each tube.
Light, Clean on top, clean on bottom, & V strong. Have fun