hatches old style vs new

[paul anderson]

g.day

the hatches for the cabin on the plans have been substituted for the ones used by scott williams and thomas neilson on both of their builds,the ones with the ss tube as a guide,they look neat but are they the best of both types of hatches?

[kim whitmyre]

I replaced Vaea's cabin hatches with Griffith-style hatches. I have both a sliding hatch and a hinged hatch:
http://wharrambuilders.ning.com/photo/standingrigging-1?context=alb...

I don't have an open shot at the moment, but there is an internal combing that comes up inside what you see. If/when water comes through the seam of the outer hatch, it hits the wall of the inner combing which is higher than the seam, and drains out the 3 holes in the external combing. Due to the non-standard cabin having 2 hatches, there was only room for one sliding hatch. This actually worked out well, as I found a tee handle locking latch for the front hinged hatches (installed after this pic). I use an internal lashing closure at the moment for the sliding hatch, so I can better secure the cabins now. Next time I'm at the boat, I will take better pictures to show the hatches better.

[Hans Hammig]

How do I lock my hatches from the outside? I met a guy in Richards Bay, South Africa, who came over the Pacific and Indian Ocean and his hatches were just held by gravity. His mast was a lamp pole from Malaysia. He returned safely to UK. But his girl friend left him and took a plane back home.

Now how do I lock my fore and aft hatches. They must not lock accidentally when I am inside, but it must be possible to lock them storm proof from the outside, and burglar proof as far as reasonable also.

[kim whitmyre]

Hans, what sort of hatches are you going to use? My aft hatches are secured from the insided with a line/cleat system, while the fore hatches use the aforementioned tee-handle locking hatch.  I am using a simple bungee cord loop that catches the fore hatch tee when in the open position, thinking of something similar for the aft sliding hatch.

[Hans Hammig]

Kim, those hatches of mine must be closed/locked from the outside. I use the original Wharram double coaming hatches. High of coamings about 75 mm (3 inches). I have the opportunity to hinge them with very tough nylon hinges, but then I still have to secure the hatch on the opposite side. Something elegant, not protruding, low cost, effective.