Hi Dan,
thanks a lot for your kind words ─ I’m glad the article was helpful!

Regarding your tip with mineral oil / baby oil:
I’ve tried similar approaches in the past using Vaseline and silicone oil. Both can help to refresh the rubber surface a bit, but they only work if the actual problem is the gasket drying out.

On most older Lewmar low-profile hatches the real issue is different:
The leak often doesn’t come from the gasket → it comes from between the acrylic pane and the rubber seal.
Once dirt, salt or micro-movement gets between those two surfaces, no amount of oil will stop the leak. The water finds its way between the seal and the pane, not between the seal and the aluminum frame.

I’ve seen this on several Lewmar hatches, including on my own boat.

So personally, I wouldn’t recommend oiling the gaskets as a “fix”, simply because:

it doesn’t solve the underlying problem on these models

it only works if the rubber itself is the issue (which is rarely the case)

I don’t have long-term experience with the mineral-oil method

Cleaning everything thoroughly and resealing the acrylic pane is usually the more reliable long-term solution.

Thanks again for sharing your tips — always good to compare approaches between boats!

Regards,

Hallo Wolfgang, so ging es bei uns auch los. Erst schrumpfen die die Dichtungen, dann kann man den Spalt mit Silikon schliessen. Irgendwann kommt Wasser durch… Die Dichtungen gibt es übrigens auch als Meterware, war bei uns mit den genannten Tipps allerdings noch nicht notwendig diese zu tauschen.

Hallo Manfred, unsere Dorade Lüfter sind bisher dicht. Bei extremem Wetter schießen wir sie. In der Mitte kann man die Achse noch oben und unten schieben. Muss aber schon sehr schlechtes Wetter sein, dass da Wasser rein kommt.