Cockpit Seat Hatches

[Bill Merrick]

What is the construction of the seat hatches on the Challengers??

The hatches were all but completely gone on my boat, a Mistral, when I bought her. I replaced them with 3/4" teak plywood as a temporary fix. These are ready for replacement.

As best I could see, the original hatches were plywood construction with a 1 by 2 ( 3/4 by 1-1/2" ) edge piece on the front and back edges. The top veneer piece extended over the plywood and edges pieces and the edge pieces were doweled to the plywood. The drawing for the boat from Alden give no details of the seat hatch construction.

Pictures I have seen of Challengers don't show anything much different that this. Is that true?

I was hoping to upgrade the construction a little bit but haven't seen a good solution yet. Anyone out there have any suggestions??

Bill Merrick
S/V Carmina
Seattle WA

 

[TomY]

I'm certain mine are original Bill.

At least as built at the Molich yard in 1961. They're simply 2, 1x teak boards battened below and piano hinged to the outer deck piece which is screwed from below into the coamings. The battens are notched to rest on the cockpit well boards carrying much of the weight making them very sturdy tops.

Below the lids was a wooden gutter system that ran the perimeter of the locker top. This was designed to catch water around the perimeter and outboard piano hinge, channel it and drain into the cockpit well. It works well enough but the cockpits are not completely water tight of course. I've plowed a groove between the two planks and used a teak decking sealant which helped.

Incidentally, there are two small locker tops in the aft seat. They're channeled with the same gutters which drain as well into the cockpit.

While still servicable, the tops are getting thinner after nearly 50 seasons. When the time comes to replace the cockpit, I'm not sure how I'll handle it, I may simply build it the same was. Sorry I don't have a better shot but you can see the simple lids and piano hinge.

 

[Bill Merrick]

Tom,

Thanks much. This helps a lot.

Cute kids.

Bill

 

[TomY]

Thanks Bill, I was on the boat yesterday and took a better shot of the cockpit. Challengers develope leaks in the bridge deck area. I've finally solved mine by plowing out with a router between the teak planks and using a good deck sealant between. The original was quite tight I suspect. The teak boards were joined with splines and resin (polyester I suppose). But in time this joint opens up. Water finds it's way below and travels along the plywood sub-bridge deck until it exits into the galley, at least it did on my boat.

The cockpit lockers we never likely water tight though. The wooden gutters built into and below the joints drain most of the water away but there's always some leaking into the lockers, especially in a down pour like this. But our boat is quite dry below now which is very nice in a downpour.

 

[Bill Merrick]

Tom,

Again thanks.

I chose to go with solid teak planks like those on the Challenger. I'm a little concerned about warping and cupping but it should be less so with teak than any other wood except for the plywood option that didn't work for me very well the first time around (nor on the originals).

The Mistral with the fiberglass cockpit still has a very inadaquate gutter system and I am going to have to do some modifications to keep water from overflowing into the lazarettes. It's amazing that Alden never got this right.

Thanks again.

Bill