Watertight Cockpit Lockers

[tager]

The cockpit seats are rotted out on my Haida 26, and I now have the opportunity to build something that will not rot again. I thought about rebuilding it stock because it is pretty simple and would be cheap, but the design has proven to be a failure. I don't want something that is going to cause rot again!

Anyway I have found a few hatches, and I like the price of SO-PAC hatches. Can anyone review these? Any other tips on finding or building a flush mounted hatch?

The type that came out were like this (not my boat)

They are flush, plywood hatches with no gasket, they drain into a gutter that is supposed to drain out into the cockpit floor.

What really happens is that the screws holding the gutter let water into the seat frames and everything rots enough that one day you sit down and the whole hatch goes in with you.

So, what suggestions do people have? I just want a pair of hatches big enough to get my shoulders through, and big enough to squeeze my genoa through.

[Faster]

Originally Posted by tager

......What really happens is that the screws holding the gutter let water into the seat frames and everything rots enough that one day you sit down and the whole hatch goes in with you.

Ouch.. funny picture in my mind right now....

Oh yeah... think you can downsize that picture a bit? I need to go get another monitor.....

[sailingdog]

If the hinges were through-bolted and properly sealed, that wouldn't be an issue.

Originally Posted by tager

The cockpit seats are rotted out on my Haida 26, and I now have the opportunity to build something that will not rot again. I thought about rebuilding it stock because it is pretty simple and would be cheap, but the design has proven to be a failure. I don't want something that is going to cause rot again!

Anyway I have found a few hatches, and I like the price of SO-PAC hatches. Can anyone review these? Any other tips on finding or building a flush mounted hatch?

The type that came out were like this (not my boat)

They are flush, plywood hatches with no gasket, they drain into a gutter that is supposed to drain out into the cockpit floor.

What really happens is that the screws holding the gutter let water into the seat frames and everything rots enough that one day you sit down and the whole hatch goes in with you.

So, what suggestions do people have? I just want a pair of hatches big enough to get my shoulders through, and big enough to squeeze my genoa through.

[tager]

In the picture, the hatch is hinged. On my particular boat there are no hinges. The cockpit locker lid simply rests on top of the gutter, and 2 bronze bolts overlapped by the cockpit bench stop the back of the locker lid from flipping up. The bronze bolts are parallel to the plane of the locker lid, lower than the bench, and stick out the back of the lid, so the seats can't flip up.

This is another decidedly annoying and non-seaworthy setup that I inherited.

For this reason I am considering something like these:

I am trying to get some reviews, as I see there are many manufacturers, and I want to know which ones are good and which are not so good. It must be robust, as it will be walked on quite a bit, and I hope that the inside opening is larger than 9"x22", just because I want to be able to crawl in and out, and jam the genoa in there, as well as ditty bags, etc.

Or should I simply rebuild the typical gutter-hatch? It would be nice for it to be flush.

One idea I had was to cut a hole in the new bench, install frames around the underside perimeter that the new hatch would rest on, gasket it, and let the water drain into a hose. This would be pretty simple, and hopefully leak free.

I thought that idea was cool because it didn't necessitate any fasteners that would be exposed to water. Ever.

[tager]

Okay I think I figured out how I am going to do it. I will make plywood benches, cut out the size hole I want for the lockers, add a continuous interior wood cleat which the lid will rest on. The face of the cleats will be slightly below the face of the bottom of the plywood bench. Bronze strip will be added to the end grain of the cleat after glassing the pieces. A foam rubber gasket will be attached to the underside of the cockpit locker lid.

There will be suspended cleats on the undersides of the lids which provide sealing pressure, and the locker lid faces will attach to a hasp. This makes a locking, gasketed, locker lid that is flush.

Drainage will be through a small hose at the outboard ends of the gutter.