Hatches which are real wathertight

[WaveDancer & Bella]

Tikis (and others) in rough seas and when beating upwind take a lot of water over the front-hatches. Does anyone have a method to build-/make them real watertight? 

[paul anderson]

I do a lot of kayak fishing and have to launch thru the surf to get to the fishing grounds.

We have all manner of hatches on the kayaks, on my latest kayak I have a hatch made from carbon that opens up to allow you to put fishing rods in the hull as well as any fish caught.

With all these hatches a rubber seal with enough down force/ pressure applied by either bungee cords or belt tie downs keeps the water out, especially when you get dumped by a big wave thru the surf.

[Ann and Neville Clement]

We built our home made Tiki 46 hatches to plan and they DO NOT LEAK EVER.  We have had waves break on deck while offshore in a Force 10 as measured by nearby weather bouy between Madiera and Canaries in 2002.  No leaking.  Some had no rubber seal because I just had not installed them but they still remained totally dry below. 

[WaveDancer & Bella]

I think the good "old" method with double combing should work fine.  The water pressure can be enormous and should be reduced before it reaches the seals. Many thanks for the drawing Kris. 

[kim whitmyre]

Griffth hatches, after the designer, Maurice Griffth.  When I built new hatches, I used this design.

[Robert Sheridan]

We have Lumar hatches on the foredeck of our tiki 30 and they have not let anything in to date, other than when the seals had got dry and regreasing sorted that.

[Robert Sheridan]

I had the double combing on my Hinemoa and it worked fine once I had remade one side with the drains facing aft!

WaveDancer & Bella said:

I think the good "old" method with double combing should work fine.  The water pressure can be enormous and should be reduced before it reaches the seals. Many thanks for the drawing Kris. 

[boatsmith]

[Galway Bay]

Lovely work !!  

I also worry about my forward hatches in bad weather. I can at times drive the bow / foredeck under the wave. A little water I do not worry about as this far forward I would only store fenders etc. to keep the bow light. However in bad weather you should really have some way to bail out these spaces without going forward and opening the hatch. Say something like a small inspection hatch in the bulkhead so you can insert a bilge-pump hose and work from the safety of the cabin.

[Glenn Tieman]

hope this attaching works.  I learned of this type from Bill Baer and saw them installed on wakataitea. They make much sense for directing the water flow away from the seal, and imitate some manufactured hatches. Hanneke said the conventional dbl combings trap dirt and trash leading to their version.

[kim whitmyre]

Hi Glenn, 

Hanneke has a point there...

[WaveDancer & Bella]

The impact and force of waves and waterpressure is often underestimated. Small boats are only as save as far as they can be "sealed"! To be honest I have not found yet any system which could satisfy me.

[wakataitea]

kim whitmyre said:

Hi Glenn, 

Hanneke has a point there...

....what do we want. a dry cabin or a housewife friendly boat????