We bought the locker lids from http://www.lidkopingsbatsnickeri.se/ in the beginning of 2007, and after finding out (as described elsewhere) that the aft lid was not rectangular because the locker is not, it was easy enough to fit the lids, and they looked good. However, the lids are now comming apart, and considering the very detailed complaints published recently in the club-magazine of the danish Ballad Club over the teak parts from Lidk철ping B책tsnickeri, it might be wise to wait little with ordering these parts. The problem we have is best shown in this picture: What you see is the underside of the lid and the plywood core coming apart from the teak sides. This corner of this particuar lid is the worst case I have, and the plywood will even "pump" a little if press it with a finger. The picture also shows my other main complaint over these lids from Lidk철ping. The rubber lip doesn't corner sharply enough. Because the corner is such a soft curve, water easily gets into the locker in every corner, mostly ofcourse in the furthes back corners where water accumulates when heeling. This rainy summer we had a lot of water dripping into the lockers. I have just eamiled pictures of four corners and a smal (poor) video of the pumping action to Lidköping BÃ¥tsnickeri, and I will be back with more on this subject. The lids really look good, and the price was very reasonable. If in fact they are just too cheap, and only last 2 or 3 seasons, then they are too expensive.  | Hey Mats.
The rubber seals on the lids from Lidköping are positioned in a 2 or 3 mm deep groove (Danish: rille). Making it diffcult to position a rubber seal differently. But I think they have this problem under control.
Jesper M. |
 | matsd wrote on Mar 18, '10 Maybe it's best asking LBS to send the rubber seals separately? They can't be too hard to mount yourself in order to make them fit the corner radius.
/Mats |
| We installed our new replacenet lids in june, I think, and now it seems they have some early signs og comming apart. However, I think we should all keep returning these lids, hoping they will eventually solve the problems. Because the lids are other wise very nicely made, the curvature of the rubber seals have been adjusted, and they are now watertight, and they are not expensive. So if we have a little patience and keep working with them, then maybe one day, we will have a very nice source of cockpit locker lids. Jesper. |
 | Hi Jesper My locker hatches are now disintegrating, so I need to find replacements. How are Lidk철ping's now holding up OK after they have fixed them? Charles |
 | So far, my hatches have not un-glued. Third season. Problem of rubber seals not fitting the curvatureof the rim of the cockpit locker was to cast an extra quadrant, using fibreglass-reinforced filler, to create a match. Works well. Will post a description later. |
| We returned our cockpit locker hatches to Lidk철ping because they were comming apart. We also complained about the rubber seal not fitting in the corners, as shown in pivtures above. We did this in the beginning of may, and two weeks ago they sent us a completely new set of hatches, explaining the previous problems with the use of a wrong glue. The new rubber seal fits perfectly in the corners, and sofar we are happy with the way Lidk철ping have handled our problems. One imortant piece of advice: Call them to hear if they have received the old hatches and Call them to hear how things are going. We will report in a year or so to let you know if we finally have received a set of hatches that stand the trial of time, rain and seawater. Jesper Milling |
 | How about making your own lids. All it takes is a 1/2 sheet (2' x 8', not 4' x 4') 5/8" thick of marine grade teak plywood. It's teak on both sides and be sure to treat both sides--I use Cetol natural. I just replaced mine--all it takes is a circular saw, scroll saw, drill, and dremel tool for the cutout for the latches. For all three lids, including new hardware, about $200. And it look great.
Jerry Martin
Alte Liebe #1266 |
 | Hi, Our Ballad is number 1421, built 1979. Its really a strange story about the aft lid. It is approximately 10 mm too wide, measured from the back side to the front side. But it is also slightly wider on the port side (392 mm) compared to the starboard side (382 mm). And the old lid (and the boat!) is also wider on the port side compared to the starboard, only that is should have been 382 and 372 instead. So somehow Lidköping knows about this "defect" on the Ballad mold and made the lid accordingly! Regards Tommy |
| Hi Tommy Judging from the pictures, your cockpit is made in a sliftghly differnet molding. The hinges for your lids seem to have little supports, that are part of the GRP construction. In my cockpit there used to be teak supports, now I just have large hinges bent out. When I spoke to Lidköping about how my aftmost lid did not fit (which it actually did, but I was too dom to see it - read above) they told me there were different Ballads with different size lids. The Ballad was somewhat changed with the danish production starting with number 2000. What number is your Ballad Tommy. Maybe that shift in numbers could be the guideline for Lidköping when selling lids of different sizes. There is a lot of stories about Lidk철ping lids not fitting and lids coming apart, but they always seem to be willing to try to fix the problems. I recently sent my lids in for repair, and I am really excited about the outcome. Will it last the whole summer? Will they actually be repaired so that I can use them, with falling apart, for more than a few years? I only wish I could make them talk to us on this forum. Jesper Milling |
| Hi again, Sorry that it took so long to get the pics. I was busy with many things. Here are the pics: As you see, they look nice and the rubber lid fit well. But these were the two big lids... I had a minor chock when I should install the last one, the smaller lid at the back. And guess what? It did not fit. It was approximately 10 mm too large in both directions. I called Lidköping about it, and they said I could send it to them and they should fix it immediately and also pay for sending the lid. That was 2 weeks ago, I did not yet find time to package and send it, but they sounded very helpful in the phone anyway! Best regards Tommy |
| Hi Peter A very smart solution. I assume the SikaFlex glued to the locker opening, thus reshaping it to the shape of the lid. Let's hear if keeps the water out when you have had some heavy rain or heavy sailing. Jesper |
 | I had the same problems in the corners + there were places between the corners where I could see light coming through. So I improved my sealings the following way: - I placed a thin layer of greese on the lids - I then covered the greese with thin plastic strips, the type used to cover food (the grease is just to make the plastic stay) - I then covered the old sealing and the part outside of it in the corners with sikaflex-291, and closed the lids for 48 hours - I then opened it, took away the plastic and cleaned it all up, and left it open a day to make the surface of the new sealing dry up Since I did it early this spring I have no experience of how well it works yet, but looking at it from below, there are no trace of light coming through anymore. /Peter |
| Jesper, your pics show the problem exactly. Tommy was lucky. I've tried, unsuccessfully, to improve the seal by adding sealing strips outside the Lidk첩ping rubber. I have now decided to build up the edges of the lockers so that the Lidkj첩ping's rubber seal has something to seal against. Method not yet clear. As my lids are still pretty much intact, I'll not be doing anything with them this year. |
| Hi John. The problem you have had with lids from Lidk철ping, we have had too. And the ligth you saw (in more than one way) I happened to photograph in the weekend, because I decide to send in my lids for repair, because they were comming apart. However, I photographed the ligth in the cormers to show Lidk철ping the problem, and asked them to repair this problem as well. Especially because of what Tommy wrote in this thread a short while ago: "They do look very nice and strong indeed, and the rubber lip has very sharp corners which follows the structure of the boat exactly.They do look very nice and strong indeed, and the rubber lip has very sharp corners which follows the structure of the boat exactly. Here are my pictures: CLICK I sure hope the problems we have encountered with the lids from Lidk철ping will be solved, because the look real nice, and the price is a bargain. Jesper Milling |
| Leakage discovered! I installed Lidkj첩ping's teak cockpit parts two seasons ago. Very smart. For years Josin has suffered from damp in the cockpit lockers, (last 'summer' was particularly bad). Today I was lying in the port locker, doing some wiring, when the lid blew shut. I could see light at all the corners. Didn't think to check before, but the corner rubber seals are on a larger radius than the edge of the locker. Result- an unsealed spot at the extreme corner. Next:- find a way to build up the locker corners so that the rubber seals can do their thing. Suggestions welcome! Josin John |
| Yes, I will try to take some photos. It have to wait until weekend since I am away this week. It looks really nice now with the new lids, compared to the old ugly wood and the old lids that was almost coming apart! regards Tommy |
| Hi Tommy It is very interesting to hear that Lidl철ping might have changed the corners of the rubber lip. We have had water enter the locker due to this problem. Could you eventually post some pictures taken from below when the lid is closed? And please let us all know if the lids do not delaminate in two years. The Lidk철ping lids are indeed very nic, so if they improve the quality, they will become a very good offer. I consider reairing my own lids, but haven't actually decided if I send them off to Lidk철ping or not, now at the 26th when I put the boat on the dry again for about a month. Jesper M. |
| I can just fill in that I got my lids some month ago and are just in the process of installing them in the boat. They do look very nice and strong indeed, and the rubber lip has very sharp corners which follows the structure of the boat exactly. I am of couse checking this very carefully thanks to this post on the Ballad forum, and making sure that the rubber lips fits well. The only difficulty to install them is with the lock itself. The part of the lock that was fitted into the lids were a little "embedded" into the lid on the underside. So I had to cut that part out with a knife and chisel to be able to fit the old metal locks. But now it looks really nice and I hope they will last for a lot longer than 2 seasons! Best regards Tommy |
 | Hi! I am also very interrested in this, because I ordered 3 locker lids from Lidk철ping a few weeks ago. They have not arrived yet, though. Today I emailed a question to them about these issues. The reason why I am replacing my old lids (20 years old?...) is that they delaminated between the various wooden parts and is coming apart. Then I naturally does not want the same to happen with new lids just after a year or so.. Please post any further info you have on the subject. Best regards Tommy |
| Lidk철ping has now sent me an email, and offered to fix my cockpit locker lids, if I just send them in, when I take the boat out of the water. Well We probaly won't take the boat out of the water this winter, so I will cut some intermediate lids out of some old ugly Douglas plywood I have, and install them, while the pretty teak lids from Lidk첩ping are beeing fixed. I'll keep everyone informed on this issue, as it develops. Jesper Milling |
| The pictures says it all. And this happens after only two years? Thanks again for pictures, they are worth a thousand words. Jesper M. |
| Hi John If the teak expands when wet, it doesn't sound like it is teak at all. But maybe it's just a very poor quality. I still haven't received any respons from Lidk철ping. I even directed them to this discussion. Let's hope we won't have to drive to Lidk철ping to get our problems fixed. Jesper Milling |
 | Jesper I have boght and installed a complete cockpeet teak set with both hatches and teak on the benches between the hatches. The GRP that I mention is the bench GRP which the teak is screwed and glued to. When the teak gets wet from rain it expands and bend upwards between the screws, and the glue (Sikaflex) supplied by Lidkøping BÃ¥tsnickeri together with the cockpeet teak set is not flexible enough to take the action effect. I will take contact with Lidk첩ping B책tsnickeri as soon as I return from my holiday. We are now cruising on the west coast of Norway and have a good time currently on Utsira. |
| Thankyou John, for your posting, which means that my problem is not just one of appearance, but something that might end with the hatches falling apart in a few years. I am surprised however that you mention GRP. Does that mean that the core of the hatches is a sheet, or a plate of glassfiber? I would allso like to hear form Lidk철ping customers who did not have problems (for more than a few months). And from Lidk철ping customers who had their problems fixed satisfacturaly. The problems described in the Danish ballad club magazine were problems with fitting of the whole cockpitset. John, maybe now was a good time for you to talk to Lidk철ping B책tsnickeri, so that we could support each other in out claims. I have not yet had any response on my own complaints. Jesper Milling |
| As Jesper is writing we have also had a very wet year here in Norway, creating moist in the cockpeet lockers, especially when the hatches are leaking.
I have experienced exactly the same with my cockpeet hatches from Lidk첩ping B책tsnickeri. The plywood has delaminated such that the painted layer of vineer wood on the underside of the hatches is falling off in big flakes.
I have had these hatches and also the teak for the whole cockpeet for 2 years now.
The teak that has been used is expanding when wet, such that it slips from the GRP it is glued to. (Maybe the teak quality is bad also).
I have not yet talked to Lidk첩ping B책tsnickeri, but will consider a reclaimation.
John Johannessen |
| Hi Torvald Thankyou very much for your posting. The Ballad is known for its "slagside" (healing when moored) to starboard, maybe that could explain why only the starboard locker-lid went bad. How long did it take form installing the lid, till it came apart, in your case? Did you ever talk to Lidk철ping about it? Kind reards Jesper Milling |
 | Hi!
I have had the same problem as you describe. The plywood delaminated due to bad fitting of the rubberlist. My solution was that i removed all teakribbs and bought a new better plywood and then put all things back again. However I must say that I can't reckommend the job. It was lots of harder then I first thought and the material was also quite expensive with all things you need; sikaflex, screws, plywood...
I have now fitted the list better and it also works better. It is still not perfekt because the plywood gets little bit wet but at least there is no more water leaking in. If I would have done It again I would first paint the plywood with epoxy or used some plastic material as a base. I think there is hard to find any plywood which in a wet enviroment by the time doesn't delaminate.
One strange thing is that the problem only ocured at my Starboard locker. The only reason I can see is that the loocker might not be horizontal and leaning too much. If you can't get it perfekt horizontal, I think it is the better if it leans a little bit against the middle so the water can drop of direkt in the "cockpit".
Look forward to here what Lidk철ping will say
/Torvald
Svenska Balladklubben |
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