Need Weekender Lazarette Hatch Dimensions

[Ken_StJohn]

Anyone ever determine the height of the lazarette hatch? The arc radius and width are given on the plans but not the height. Would appreciate some help!

[Dave R1]

Ken, I don't think it is at all critical as long as you don't go so high there's no strength around the steering shaft. I didn't put in that hatch but instead made one in the center of the stern deck. I made a rectangular opening and use a piece of varnished 3/8" luan plywood for the cover. I planed the back face layer off the plywood which gave it the perfect curve to match the deck. I hold it on with two short bungee cords underneath so there's no exposed hardware and nothing for lines to catch on.

Here's a picture.

[Ken_StJohn]

Dave:

Thanks for the reply! I was looking at your hatch previously and thought that was a great idea. How did you handle the deck joiner which normally sits at that location?

[Dave R1]

Ken, the deck joiner is still there. It's just two pieces now. The opening was laid out and cut after the deck, transom and lazerette bulkhead were all together. I made a frame for the opening that is about an inch wide all the way around and epoxied that to the deck.

Instead of following the plans exactly for the steering I came up with what I've drawn here. Well, most of it anyway. The white rectangular thing is a piece of 1x4 epoxied and screwed into place between the transom and laz BH. I put vertical pieces on the transom and BH to fasten the board that is shown. Anyway, with this mechanism, which is pretty close to bullet proof, there's no way I was going to work on it from below. The access hatch on top works well enough. The other thing is that it gives me easy access to the stub tiller in case something in the steering does fail so I don't lose control of the steering.

[Ken_StJohn]

Trying to visualize the opening reinforcement....

So, did you attach the deck halves to the transom and laz stringers without the joiner in place and then cut the opening and attach a frame around it from the inside to act as a joiner?

Or, attach a frame before you actually screwed the deck halves to the stringers?

Or?

Thanks! Sorry to be so dense!

Ken

[Barry Pyeatt]

Ken,

I found the lower hatch opening to be a convenient access for storage in the bottom of the lazerette. I made my opening essentially a 9 X 9 with the arc in the top then cut simple frame to mount to the surface horizontally to flush out the opening from side to side and mounted a simple hinged door to access it.

I installed 6" twist out deck plates in the top surface off to either side. These are inexpensive and can be obtained from Duckworks.com.

Without as sophisticated a rack and pinoon type steering system as Dave is using it provides lots of access to get to the tiller, the single turnbuckle and blocks in the lazerette and keeps the deck clear of raised hatch covers. But then I use a traveller for my boom as well so a hatch cover like Dave uses is out of the question for my use.

You could also mount twist out hatch plates in the face of the lazerette off to either side that would allow you to get to the steering gear when necessary.

[Dave R1]

No need to apologize. I assembled the deck halves as per the plan with the 1/2" ply butt block underneath. (Actually I don't remember what the plans call for for that butt block but I used a piece of plywood.) After the deck was attached to the stringer on the transom and the lazerette BH was installed, I laid out the opening for the hatch. I sawed close to the layout lines then clamped a straight edged piece of wood along the line to guide a bearing guided flush trim bit in a router. The guide piece wasn't bent over the crown of the deck. I just wedged it up on the ends to keep it steady. I cut through the deck and the butt block.

After the opening was cut I made a frame of some mahogany. I think the pieces were about 1" wide and 3/4" thick. Most of the back was rabbetted away so there is a lip to cover the inside edge of the plywood. The ends of the pieces were mitered. I put the two long sides of the frame in first and epoxied them to the deck, clamping them in place to make the bend. Then I added the end pieces after the epoxy for the first two pieces was cured and I could unclamp them.

Here's a quickie drawing of the way the frame fits the opening. I hope it makes sense. BTW, I've stood or sat on the stern deck many times and never had an issue with strength.

[Ken_StJohn]

Dave:

Where did you source the pillow blocks and other components?

[Dave R1]

Ken, the pillow blocks, and shaft came as a unit with a pulley and a left-hand threaded nut as a buffing mandrel. The sprockets and roller chain as well as the buffing mandrel all came from the local Fleet Farm, a sort of farm supply store that also sells clothes and car batteries and fishing stuff. The sprockets come as two pieces. You get the hub for the desired shaft size and the cog part. They get welded together to make a unit. I think all those parts were less than $30. I used 2" aluminum angle to support the idler sprockets. They ride on 1/2" bolts. The shaft passes through oversized holes in the aluminum. I also put a couple of collars on the steering shaft to keep it from sliding in and out.

The steering wheel I used was a purchased one. It has a 3/4" bore with a keyway. I cut a keyway in the shaft with a dremel tool and a cutoff wheel. That works great.

I also calculated the length of roller chain needed to turn get stop to stop on the rudder with a total of about 320

[Ken_StJohn]

Thanks, Dave! We have a "Tractor Supply" franchise here in Colorado - perhaps a similar store. Thanks again for the support and responses! I believe I will probably set up the steering like yours. That way, I can assure a more reliable rig. Thanks, again.

[Dave R1]

Glad to help. Tractor supply will probably have everything you need. If you want I'll try to take some photos in the next few days looking down into the hole.

[Ken_StJohn]

That would be fantastic!