Charlie Jones Posted February 11, 2004 Posted February 11, 2004 In this Princess we decided to put two kinds of hatch openings in the boat. Two flush ones in the bridge deck and 4 front lipped ones in the rest of the cockpit. All are slef draining, but the method is different. For the bridge deck hatches I made framework to form a trough around the hatch opening. This trough will drain through a pipe running through the side of the cockpit and into the footwell. Here's the frames and hatches for those. These frames will be glued and screwed under the hatch opening framing. The hatch cover will sit around the frame. [attachment over 4 years old deleted by admin] Quote
Charlie Jones Posted February 11, 2004 Author Posted February 11, 2004 The other four hatches will lip over the front edge and are sloped from the hinge side to the front edge. So the self draining troughs must slope also. Here's the outer framing after it was glued into place. Note that they are wider at the footwell edge than at the hinge (rear) side. This is what aloows the hatches to self drain. You can see the shape also on the hatch lying in the footwell [attachment over 4 years old deleted by admin] Quote
Charlie Jones Posted February 11, 2004 Author Posted February 11, 2004 once the framing is in, we can build the bottom of the trough- this is made from 12mm Okume in this instance. There is an under part on three sides- the front edge gets a different treatment [attachment over 4 years old deleted by admin] Quote
Charlie Jones Posted February 11, 2004 Author Posted February 11, 2004 after the bottoms are cured, we can attach the two ends to each opening. These form the sides of the trough. Note that they are sloped on the underside to match the slope of the framing. [attachment over 4 years old deleted by admin] Quote
Charlie Jones Posted February 11, 2004 Author Posted February 11, 2004 after that, the fronts and back side are installed. Note that the back piece is much further from the edge than the sides. This must be done so the hatch can pivot in that space. The space euals the dimension of th erear of the hatch itself. Also- the front edge here is made from 12 MM okume. The top edge has been cut back 2 MM (down to the edge of the opening) so that the front lip of the hatch cover won't drag. [attachment over 4 years old deleted by admin] Quote
Charlie Jones Posted February 11, 2004 Author Posted February 11, 2004 here's the completed frame ready to be removed for trimming and sanding. The frame was temporarily held in place through the trough bottom with screws. They won't be actually glued in place intill after the cockpit is finally glassed. You can see the cut back on the front edge. Again- the ply is 12 MM but has been cut back 2 MM which makes the front edge 10 MM thick. [attachment over 4 years old deleted by admin] Quote
Charlie Jones Posted February 11, 2004 Author Posted February 11, 2004 and finally what it looks like with the hatch covers laying in place. We counted and found that these 6 hatches required just under 100 seperate pieces of wood to be cut, fitted, and glued into place It took a week to do. Every thing has now been removed again, sanded, epoxy coated and is waiting for glassing. [attachment over 4 years old deleted by admin] Quote
Greg Luckett Posted February 11, 2004 Posted February 11, 2004 WOW Charlie. Great pictures and very instructive too. Thankyou. Quote
Scott Dunsworth Posted February 11, 2004 Posted February 11, 2004 Looking very good Charlie, does the snowed in heart good.Thanks Quote
Travis Votaw Posted February 11, 2004 Posted February 11, 2004 Thanks, Charlie - it's looking really good. I'm already thinking of things to put in these hatches, besides YOU By way of explanation, I went by the shop the other day to see the progress and caught Charlie INSIDE one of the larger hatches. He'd gotten in there to unscrew the framework after a temporary fitting. I still don't see how he could get into that small space. This boat is going to have a lot of storage. Sail On! TV Quote
Tim Posted February 19, 2004 Posted February 19, 2004 Excellent work as usual Charlie and a fine tuturial. Not sure if I'm in for that much work but it looks like this is the best way to do the job. One question: what do you use for latches to hold the lids down? Quote
Charlie Jones Posted February 19, 2004 Author Posted February 19, 2004 Haven't decided as yet. Most likely something that has provisions for a lock. At least on the two center ones. Quote
Barry Pyeatt Posted February 20, 2004 Posted February 20, 2004 Very nice Charlie. I'm doing essentially the same thing on the Weekender seats. What do you find is the best choice for hinges for this type of installation? Quote
Charlie Jones Posted February 24, 2004 Author Posted February 24, 2004 Haven't totally decided yet. Most likely we'll use some 2 inch butt type hinges, although a piano hinge would work. A stainless piano hinge is SOOOOOO costly though, especially with 6 hatches. So I'm really leaning towards butt type, in stainless of course. Salt water ya know Quote
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