Are main hatch covers supposed to slide?

[Scott Veirs]

Hello all,

I've puzzled long and hard over the Tiki 21 plans, but remain uncertain about whether the main cabin entrance is meant to be rectangular (90 degree corners), a parallelogram (so that hatch covers could slide, or NOT. We're now glassing the hulls and have built one hatch cover only to find that the forward half does not slide freely more than about 20 cm. This occurs because the in- and out-board sides of the cabin combing are not parallel (but rather diverge slightly toward the bow.

If the combing sides aren't meant to be parallel, then do you recommend we leave enough of a gap between combings and hatch to allow sliding, or is it actually strategic to have the hatch covers not slide?

Thanks for any advice and for this great Ning site!

Cheers,
Scott

[Polinesio - Tarcisio Silva]

Hi, Scott,

Nice! Now we have a Tiki 21 group. So, we can change many things about our boats building and sailing.

I had same problem on my boat, but it's a minimal divergence, may be designed to not slide freely to water.
You can modify it, if you want, just cut off (or sanding) a little part of the hatche cover. And don't forget the rubber, the water come in.

Best winds,
Tarcisio Silva.