Cockpit Access Hatch

[jhenson]

Last week, I started working on my own homemade version of what (hopefully) will be a leak proof, offshore quality engine access hatch in the cockpit. I have a ways to go on it, but I managed to get the basic lid glued up a couple of days ago. I know this may seem unnecessary given the availability of aluminum hatches, but I thought I would try one anyway.

I designed the lid to be glued up in three sections. This allowed for a simple way to cut the mortises for the latches. The top of the lid is the cutout for the lazerette hatch with three additional layers of 17 oz. biax cloth added for a total thickness of about 3/8?. The other two are from prefab fiberglass material left over from my engine bed trials and tribulations. The corner of the hatch lid are slightly thicker to add pressure to the gasket material as the latches are closed. The total thickness of the hatch lid is around 7/8? and seems very strong.

The frame at the deck was laid up long ago when I reinforced the cockpit sole and is about ?? thick fiberglass under the bottom skin of the cockpit sole. I cut away ?? of core material around the perimeter and still need to fill this area.

I trimmed the top skin cutoff down to form a ?? X 1/8? half oval ?bead? section that will be glued to the frame. The idea is to have this lie directly under the lid gasket so as to uniformly compress the gasket around the hatch. I still need to glue this down.

I will also glue on some material around the lip of the lid section outside the gasket to displace what water collects in the area outside the hatch gasket. This will hopefully minimize the amount of water that gets below when the hatch is opened.

Lid Sections:



Lid Glued Together:



Latch Mortises:



Underside:



In Frame:



Frame Bead Section:




So far, the materials for it have been approximately $120. The stainless locker latches are Taco Marine from an ebay supplier for $16 each.

Joe

[Jason K]

What an interesting project.

It looks like it will look better, be cooler than aluminum, and stronger than plastic. Nice job.

[jhenson]

It looks like it will look better, be cooler than aluminum, and stronger than plastic. Nice job.

Jason,

Thanks. I hope that will all be true AND most importantly be leak proof. We will see. Are you enjoying the new boat?

Joe

[Jason K]

I'm sure you can make it leak proof. Do you have enough room to fit the compressed gasket and still fully lock the hatches?

The J/30 is fantastic and I'm really enjoying it. It's faster than I thought it would be.

[jhenson]

I have yet to test the latches and gasket material for fit. The lid edges have plenty of thickness so I can remove material as necessary if the hatch is too difficult to close. I may have to waste a little gasket material in the fitting process though.

[Tim]

That looks like a nice approach to the problem of cockpit hatches. The aluminum ones are handy and work well, but they are hot underfoot and not necessarily attractive either. Plastic is pretty worthless by all accounts.

How much time do you think you have into that, all told (to date at least)?

[jhenson]

I would say that I have around 10 hours or so if you include the time spent on the frame structure from about 1 ? years ago. That said, I?m not very efficient at doing these fabrication projects for the first time, though I have found making things like the seat lockers, engine control recess, and cockpit hatch to be very rewarding.

I?m thankful for your insights on the use of prefab fiberglass. I makes these ?one of ? projects go much faster. I bought some 1/8? material for the engine drip pan, and that made for a easy go of it.

There are a lot of little finicky steps left to go, but I?ll try to incorporate them as I finish up several deck mods in anticipation of final fairing and deck paint.

Joe

[MikeD]

I bought some 1/8? material for the engine drip pan, and that made for a easy go of it.

Joe, got any pictures of fabricating your drip pan?

[jhenson]

Mike,

Unfortunately, I don?t have any pictures of the drip pan under construction. I haven?t been that good lately in documenting the work done on my Triton.

The drip pan was made by scribing a line up the hull in the bilge equal to the outside thickness of bilge pump hose, plus the fiberglass thickness, plus about ?? clearance. I measured the width of the bilge along the lines to give me a rough idea of the dimensions of the bottom panel.

The fore and aft end pieces were made by cutting cardboard templates to match the contour of the hull. They splay outward at about a 30 degree angle. The hull itself defines the sides of the pan.

I held the bottom, front, and rear together with a 1X2? pine frame and drywall screws. Once the assembly was filleted to the hull, the frame was removed. Then I ran 4? and 6? biax cloth along the fillets. The whole thing got some fairing compound to make it smooth enough to allow for easy cleaning.



Do you have a similar project in mind on your Ariel? I guess you have an outboard in the motor well, so it wouldn?t be a dip pan in the bilge.

Your boat looks great! I know Tim painted your decks, but did you do the topside painting yourself?

Joe

[MikeD]

Do you have a similar project in mind on your Ariel? I guess you have an outboard in the motor well, so it wouldn?t be a dip pan in the bilge.

Your boat looks great! I know Tim painted your decks, but did you do the topside painting yourself?

Thanks, Tim's deck job puts the topsides to shame. I didn't paint the topsides myself - I'm trying to track down the previous-PO and see if he can remember what he put on so I can do some touch-ups. I do like the color, though.

On your drip pan - I'm confused. That picture is looking forward towards the aft end of your engine mounts, right? Your bilge pump will be mounted underneath the floor or whatever that is in the top of the picture, and the hose will run under the drip pan and exit aft (bottom of picture)?

I've been been thinking of something less permanent, like a removable "pan" so I can still get at the bilge when I have to. My Ariel has a Yanmar 2GM, so it would be a real drip pan.

BTW, real nice work! Looking forward to seeing Triton 114 and the other project Tritons on this site floating again soon!

[jhenson]

On your drip pan - I'm confused. That picture is looking forward towards the aft end of your engine mounts, right? Your bilge pump will be mounted underneath the floor or whatever that is in the top of the picture, and the hose will run under the drip pan and exit aft (bottom of picture)?

That's all correct. The bilge pump hose will run aft from under the cabin sole to the transom. I felt there should also be enough clearance for water to drain from the cockpit area, under the drip pan, to the low point of the bilge without the possibility of flooding the pan.

I also debated the idea of having the pan removable. In the end, I chose the easy way. Really the hull there doesn't have that much curvature that you couldn't use the same construction techniques to build sides on it. However, you could tape wax paper to the side of the bilge, and lay up something that would match the curvature, if you so desired.

If I can find some sort of portable collection container that will fit in the bilge, I'm thinking of installing an aft drain fitting that will allow me to run a hose to said container for collecting any spilled liquids.

I'm toying with the idea of building a custom fuel tank using the same technique utilizing prefab pieces joined with fillets and tape. I doubt I will, but it is an interesting possibility.

Joe

[MikeD]

Your removable container could be an easy way to clean your drip pan. Slosh and scrub the cleaners, etc. around in there, then drain into the container. Hmmm... What I like about your setup too, is you can reach, and therefore clean and the nasty engine goo easily, and it doesn't get mixed in the bilge water.

Didn't you have a website at some point? I'd enjoy following some of your projects more closely. (Hint hint...)

[jhenson]

I had a website, and hope to eventually start another one sometime soon.

Joe