removed hatch seal

[olmrsb]

Hello Yaris foaks,

I've lurked here for a decade and found excellent answers to my questions,but now I finally have to post. The seal around my 2009's hatch has become chewed up by the latch, and today the hatch door would not close at all, so I just pulled out the entire seal. That worked: The latch closed and locked, so ok. But now I'm concerned, of course, that without the seal there'll be water leakage. My question to you guys is: how much and how awful will it be? I live in the us-midwest and park outside, so of course wet weather is going happen.

I really do not want to reinstall the seal. (I'm creaky, the car's old, the mechanic's closed, my face mask fogs my glasses, usually I don't whine). Any suggestions for maybe shoring up the inside top of the hatch so it won't leak?

Thanks!