I just purchased a new oval Valley hatch cover to put on an older boat (1995). The new cover seemed very loose - it will slide around a bit and pops off fairly easily. I know it will leak. So I put my cloth tape measure around it and, low and behold, the rim on the old boat has a circumference of 42 1/8" and on my 2004 Avocet it’s 42 3/8"! That’s quite a difference. 1.) Does anyone know if the Valley rim sized changed along the way? and 2.) I’m open for ideas to build up the old rim.
~wetzool
Interesting
I just picked up a 95 pintail for short money, I replaced all 3 hatch covers (2 rounds and 1 oval), and they fit perfectly.
1993 rims
I replaced the small hatch on Anas Acuta from 93
& it fit good.
WS Sparrow Hawk
I doubt if WS made their own rims for the Valley hatches, but who knows (probably somebody). The round hatch is fine.
All the same size
– Last Updated: Sep-03-07 7:22 PM EST –
I've owned a couple of '91-'92 boats with valley hatches and have friends with similar age boats, and the newer hatch covers fit exactly the same as the old ones. Are you sure that the hatch on your boat is a VCP and not a Kajak Sport? The two are not interchangeable.
Yeah, almost certain …
It had three dry rotted Valley hatch covers on it when I picked it up and friend with an Arctic Hawk of nearly the same vintage has had some leaking issues with his oval hatch. I have an idea I’m trying out now. I’ll let you know if it works…
~wetzool
Greyak has a little Hawk…
Maybe he will chime in.