While chasing down a leak the other day I started thinking how much easier it would be if I had easy access to the deep lazerette in my 85 Hunter 31. Im a pretty big guy and always have to beg someone smaller to go inside the lazerette to do work and inspect things. Since no one is enthusiastic about this, a lot of needed maintenance gets put off. We only use the port half of the rear berth for sleeping (and even then, rarely). What would be the harm if I removed the wall between the lazerette and the sleeping berth? It seems like the wall is non-structual, just held in place by screws. That would provide access, or at least a crawlspace area, to get in there and repair/inspect/replace things. It would even provide more usable storage, at least in my case, since the floor space would then be usable. I might even use it for those additional house batteries I've been wanting. I can even conceive of installing something like a removable fabric "wall" that is held in place with snaps or twist clips. This would allow the access I want while still making it look decent for sleeping. Any ideas... Opinions... Pros and Cons. Has anyone done this or something like it on an H31 or similar model. I did try the archives. No luck. I think I recall someone describing how they once changed the direction of the berth to go port-starboard instead of fore-aft and provided storage behind the rudder post. Was I dreaming?
getting access to the starboard lazerette H31
- Thread starter pimerese
- Start date
- Status
Access hatch
Many people have added a removable cover to access that area. I dont see any harm, as you pointed out - it seems to be non structural. I had to crawl deep into the starboard locker on my H34 to replace the exhaust hose. Not fun at 6-2/200 but I managed. Hardest part is getting past the batteries and diesel hose. I wouldn't put any more weight on the starboard side since it already has everything there now - Fuel, batteries,holding tank... Better to put the batteries on the port side somehow - I have seen some owners putting them under the nav. station.
Many people have added a removable cover to access that area. I dont see any harm, as you pointed out - it seems to be non structural. I had to crawl deep into the starboard locker on my H34 to replace the exhaust hose. Not fun at 6-2/200 but I managed. Hardest part is getting past the batteries and diesel hose. I wouldn't put any more weight on the starboard side since it already has everything there now - Fuel, batteries,holding tank... Better to put the batteries on the port side somehow - I have seen some owners putting them under the nav. station.
Access hatch works well
We added an access hatch to the wall of the lazerette so that we could more easily check for water in the fuel filter. It has been there since 2000 with no problems. (I'm a big guy too and my wife is a little claustrophobic.) We also used the hatch to check fuel levels until we installed a fuel guage. The batteries on our 1987 Hunter 31 were installed over the prop shaft seal when we bought it in 1999. We just store lines and fenders in the starboard lazerrette.
We added an access hatch to the wall of the lazerette so that we could more easily check for water in the fuel filter. It has been there since 2000 with no problems. (I'm a big guy too and my wife is a little claustrophobic.) We also used the hatch to check fuel levels until we installed a fuel guage. The batteries on our 1987 Hunter 31 were installed over the prop shaft seal when we bought it in 1999. We just store lines and fenders in the starboard lazerrette.
- Status