Who has a cool hatch latch idea?

[Jim Stumpf]

On the fore and aft deck hatches I would like to make some salty looking hold downs or dogs. They need to be good looking, not hardware laden, most likely made of wood from the shop, keep hatches closed with out snagging lines, dispense cold beer and make me tall and handsome. It is a tall order but any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

That is Joe in the picture there is no expectation that the hatch hardware will make him tall and handsome, but you can see my hatch set up which is typical of fore and aft.

Thanks,

Jim

[PAR]

A CS-17 hatch, with veneers and home made hinges.

The hatch is very low and has 1/8" teak and mahogany veneers applied. The boat is still having "filling" coatings applied to bring the seams up flush, but you get the idea.

The hatch frame and hinge uses live oak and barrel bolts as the pivots. The substrate under the veneers is 1/4" meranti.

[wkisting]

PAR's solution looks excellent. What is used for the hold down on the edge opposite the hinges?

One possibility for a hold down... glue a small ledge onto the outside edge of the hatch. Then have a turnbutton on the deck that turns to overlap the ledge. If shaped right, it wouldn't be hard to get it to produce good downward pressure on the ledge, holding the hatch closed. The bigger trick, I think, would be sizing it small enough to look aesthetically pleasing but still easily operable by hand.

[PAR]

A spring latch works, though takes up a good bit of room and is hard to find in stainless, though brass is easy enough.

The bullet style also works good and has a smaller foot print, but often has a mild steel spring, which can rust.

This is similar to the one I used.

It's all plastic and can't rust. This is the "knuckle" style, but mine was arranged vertically, with the ball on the end of a shank and the capture portion just a hole with a flange around it.