Gem Products stainless latches that lock

[East Coast Dave]

I have a 18 ft Hewes Redfisher and want to buy some Gem Products hatch latches that lock. Are there special one that fit Hewes boats. Any suggestions would be welcomed. Any special trick to drilling the holes and lining everything up? Thanks.

[swaddict]

I just installed those on on Pathefinder 17T, I spent a lot of time looking up pics on the internet to see which one I needed. I went with the 2" with med offset, mainly because I thought that the mid offset would give me the best chance for making it lock. There expensive and I did not want to send one back. I have a shallow gutter and found out the I probably could have used the straight or low offset. I had to install a small piece of aluminum angle so the latch would catch. So, if you have deep gutters, then the mid or high offset would probably work. As far as lining up, I used a square and found the center of the hatch and bought a hole saw to cut the hole and used a dremel for final adjustments. Let me know if you need a pic

[East Coast Dave]

Thanks for your help. After I typed the question about how to line-up all the latches in the same position I realized that was a dumb question. If you have pictures that would be great. I'm preparing for my trip to Islamorada and I'm staying a La Siesta and wanted to keep my stuff secure. Thanks again. I get a little nervous when I cut or drill anything on the boat.

[Bever]

Im interested in seeing your pics. I would like to do the same and add gaskets as well as my hatches are loud and creaky.