Oliver, Many thanks for the confirmation of the drain holes for the companionway slider box being part of the original construction. When I first got my Amel, I noticed that a small amount of

James, The original seal was what the autobody people call a "dew wipe" for a car window, the part that is supposed to squeegee off film of dew when you roll the window down. As Mike described, they

Hi all, I bought an ARC GlobalFix Pro with the SeaShelter mounting bracket (the kind that auto-releases if the boat sinks). It's designed to mount to a vertical part of the hull... aside from not

Olivier - truly amazing! Thanks for the background. Out of curiosity, did you measure how long it took to drain the cockpit with the regular cockpit drains not plugged? In your test I assume that

Hi James, You won't get any argument from me! Enjoy your Amel! Cheers, Craig SN68

Hello proud owners of AMEL dry boats, from Sharki to AMEL 54, the companionway hatch slides into a wooden "box" that collects the potential water that could flow between the rubber "licker" seal and

Hi Craig, We like to keep cans and tools in the normally dry main bilge forward of the companionway slider so even a gallon of saltwater from a leaking companionway slider could do a lot of damage

Hi, As I have said before My companionway slider is varnished and I use furniture polish on it. The polish I use is Neopol original cream polish and I have had no trouble re varnishing. My rubber

Hi James, Wow, that's some scary arithmetic, which I'm sure is correct. If you've got a 1 foot head of water on your companionway hatch for an hour (let's see, that's like over the cockpit seats), uh,

The belted weather strip from Rockauto was "flocked" over the rubber so it is a felt-like material that touches the sliding hatch. Slides with much less friction than the original rubber against the

Bill Kinney, You make some very good points. A 22mm hole at a 1' head could flow around 615 GPH if my calculations are correct so there could be conditions where this could allow a lot of water

Well, Biil, actually, a 22mm round hole - call it an inch in diameter - takes in very little rain water unless you make a funnel to it from a tarp, like in the old days when sailors collected rain

Hi Eric, I get your point, but I'm really sure the catchment drain will more than compensate for any normal ingress from rain or deck washing or a rare cockpit pooping. Now, understand that I don't

100%!!! Agree John! Porter

Hi Bill, I want to say thank you for your efforts. I am sure even if not stated everyone agrees. Keep up the good work. Regards John SV Annie SM #37 preparing

As Bill R says, I think the weatherstrip is important to keep water out of the boat. If there is ANY gap, all the rain water that hits the surface of the slide will run down the surface of the slide

Well said Bill, the reality is that the insurers are distancing themselves from hurricane risk.Unfortunately many have policy wording that allows them to escape responsibility in many other