Forward hatches?

[Zach]

Hi guys,

I'm getting ready to replace the forward hatch on my triton, I'm wondering what you guys have built or used on your long distance cruisers.

I've seen plans that put a set of fixed hinges on all four sides so at anchor the hatch can be opened to catch the wind. I haven't found anything commercially available built like that... but I also haven't tested any home built designs to figure out how to seal one. I will probably end up building one.

My gut says that for keeping it attached to the boat at sea, the hinges should be placed at the forward side, as the hinges always look stronger than the dogs. My visualization is that a wave would try to close, or keep closed a hatch mounted that way... and peel one open mounted with the dogs forward. This poses a little bit of a problem, as the cabintop isn't all that large in front of the hatch, so if the forepeak gets used as a sail locker the hatch would be placed in danger of getting crunched. The current hatch opens and leans against the mast.

Have you guys built up lips around the lid, to keep a waves pressure from seeing the gap on the leading edge of the hatch?

Thanks for your thoughts!

[Pblais]

Actually on the hook you will prefer the hatch to open to the windward forward position. When it's hot you really want the breeze. You can't sail with a hatch open as the sheets can catch it no matter what. I really don't see waves causing the hatch to lift. Our last boat had home made hatches about 24 inches square. There were 5 of them. The hinges were external and one end screwed to the deck and the other to a 1 by 2 teak frame. The top was 1/2 inch lexan screwed every 3 inches around the top. They were quite strong and you could jump up and down on them. There was a raised edge on the deck so water did not creep under the hatch as the frame did not sit flush to the deck. You do have to watch out with hatch frames as you will get water between the parts so it needs to drain out. It's almost impossible to make the hatch totally water tight so you need to design it so it easily drains (hopefully out of the boat).

The forward edges of the hatches has hand wheel screw down dogs on the interior so you could lock the hatch down. Even in pounding waves we never had a trouble with the hatch over the V berth dripping.

If you make the edge around the deck raised so the inside of the lexan top hits the top of the ridge you could put a seal there so water can't come under, up, over and down. Two inches worked on ours and we had really no rubber seal just wood on lexan. The hatches were made in 1989 and even today the the new owner has no problems with them other than a little crazing. Don't make the hatches too tight around the sides of the lip so water can drain out as it will get under the edges. If it gets trapped in there even teak will rot. The lips around our hatches were of two varieties one hatch had a teak raised edge and the rest had molded ridges from when they laid the glass for the deck. The latter is of course better. If you dog the hatch from the inside no wave can lift the hatch. Even a pry bar would be difficult though possible. I may have some pictures if it's something you have interest in.

[mjt]

Are two sided hatch dogs available? By this I mean, a dog that can be operated from both the inside and the outside of the hatch.

[cooper]

Reversible fore hatches are not hard to make. When you are at your destination you rotate the hatch so that it opens into the wind. On a passage it hinges the other way. Small triangular wash boards allow the hatch to be open at sea in anything but the worst weather. These washboards are hinged and held up underneath the hatch. To use you drop them and then lower the hatch down onto them.

[Pblais]

Are two sided hatch dogs available?

I think you could make them but I can't see why you would need them. Mine were a screw down dog attached to the lexan and the interior frame. Once tight they can't open. Since the boat was only 33 ft the forward hatch could never be open under sail as the sheets would catch. I suppose with a large enough boat there may be a case where it could, but any wave over the bow would be bad no matter how it was designed.

[GordMay]

Bomar division of Pompanette has both “Inside/Outside” opening, and “Double-Opening” (C-139 series) hatches:

Goto:
Pompanette LLC.

Specifically “Cast Hatches”
Pompanette LLC.

[Joli]

Or Marine Sail Boat, Power Boat & Commercial Boat Products - Mariner's Hardware

[GordMay]

Be careful about the quality of hatches & portlights you select.
This is an actual crack that was found in the window frame on a DC-9.

[sluissa]

Gord: Is that a stress fracture? Or did something impact it to make it that way.

[defjef]

I solved the sheet snagging issue with a bungie chord which I secure to a pad eye forward (it's from the inner forestay used for offshore work) to a point on the mast about chest high. The sheets ride over this bungie chord when I tack and so I can sail in light conditions with the forward hatch open. But this little rig helps with tacking in any conditions. No Jib sheet hang ups!

[Zach]

Thanks guys. Any of you built your own hatch? I've got a few rough idea's drawn out but would like to see some pictures of the sea-going home built nature. (all that shiny aluminum is hard for my brain to convert to plywood and glass!)

DefJef... That little tip is worth its weight in gold! I can't tell you how many tacks involve the slamming of that hatch... (Mine at one point in time used a hook and loop type closure, which long ago fell apart!)

[mjt]

Thanks for the reply Paul.

Originally Posted by Pblais

I can't see why you would need them. Mine were a screw down dog attached to the lexan and the interior frame.

Safety and convenience are my reasons. I want my deck hatches operable by one hand from the inside or from the outside for convenient escape purposes including broken arms etc. Nor should one drop of champagne be spilt in a well executed exit.

Under less strenuous circumstances I like to shut the hatches from the outside in a final inspection sweep along the deck as I leave the boat. It's also partly about optimising the amount of heat accumulated in the boat and cooling breezes through the hatches during hot Australian summers.

All but one of my hatches are currently screw down.

[mjt]

Thanks for the info GordMay - some search to live, others live to search, Gordmay perhaps does both?

Originally Posted by GordMay

Bomar division of Pompanette has both “Inside/Outside” opening, and “Double-Opening” (C-139 series) hatches:...

Unfortunately I have yet to find the actual dogs for sale by themselves. I was hoping for something in bronze or steel. As Paul says it looks like I might have to add them to the list of things I will have to make (one day).

[GordMay]

Originally Posted by mjt

some search to live, others live to search, Gordmay perhaps does both?

It's there & I can:
I search because the information is out there*, and I can often find it.

* In March 1923, in an interview with The New York Times, the British mountaineer George Mallory was asked why he wanted to climb Mount Everest, and replied, “Because it's there.”

Over the past few years, I’ve written much of what I know; and now (in the interest of “economy”*) often just link to what others (more learned than I) have written.

* I greatly admire Mark Twain (but cannot emulate him), who said; “An average English word is four letters and a half. By hard, honest labor I've dug all the large words out of my vocabulary and shaved it down till the average is three and a half... I never write ''metropolis'' for seven cents, because I can get the same money for ''city'.' I never write ''policeman',' because I can get the same price for ''cop'.'...”

[cooper]

....and that bit of previous, important research on the problems associated with windows really cracked me up...