Having so much unused space in the stern prompted me to look at installing a stern hatch. For some reason I kept crawling back there on the port side. But there is more room on the starboard side because the heavy bracing that runs from the deck to the hull is on the port side.
I wanted as big a hatch as I could fit. I ended up with a 7-inch by 11-inch Bomar low-profile hatch that barely fits. It gives me access to some of the area below and will probably end up holding dingy stuff. The 7 x 11 is the largest that would fit between the stringers that strengthen the deck. My deck is solid and the addition of the hatch doesn’t seem to have weakened it.
What I don’t like is that, to get it in, I had to put it closer to the cowl vent than I wanted and farther aft than I wanted because of the lazarette box. So it crowds the vent and also slightly overlaps the smooth part of the deck.
I plan to hang a web “bulkhead” so stuff doesn’t slide forward. I hope to hang it with twist buttons so I can open it.
After extensive measuring, I made two templates: one for the opening, one for the outside. Both indicated it should fit. Then I put the ‘opening’ template under the deck, taped it in place and drilled two holes up through it and the deck. With the same template, from above I aligned it to the holes and confirmed that it would fit.
It took a bimetal blade in my jig saw to get through the glass. After treating the edge of the hole, I put the hatch down with screws and silicon because I knew it was coming up again when I redo the deck.
And 8-inch round
Bomar Model # G7711-W. $43.99 through West Marine. Actual sizes: opening is 7 1/8” x 11 1/8”. Flange OD: 10 1/4’ x 14 1/16”
I also scrubbed and painted the hull and installed a 4-inch exhaust fan that I hope will move hot air from the engine out the cowl through a dryer-vent tube that runs to near the engine.
I wanted as big a hatch as I could fit. I ended up with a 7-inch by 11-inch Bomar low-profile hatch that barely fits. It gives me access to some of the area below and will probably end up holding dingy stuff. The 7 x 11 is the largest that would fit between the stringers that strengthen the deck. My deck is solid and the addition of the hatch doesn’t seem to have weakened it.
What I don’t like is that, to get it in, I had to put it closer to the cowl vent than I wanted and farther aft than I wanted because of the lazarette box. So it crowds the vent and also slightly overlaps the smooth part of the deck.
I plan to hang a web “bulkhead” so stuff doesn’t slide forward. I hope to hang it with twist buttons so I can open it.
After extensive measuring, I made two templates: one for the opening, one for the outside. Both indicated it should fit. Then I put the ‘opening’ template under the deck, taped it in place and drilled two holes up through it and the deck. With the same template, from above I aligned it to the holes and confirmed that it would fit.
It took a bimetal blade in my jig saw to get through the glass. After treating the edge of the hole, I put the hatch down with screws and silicon because I knew it was coming up again when I redo the deck.
And 8-inch round
Bomar Model # G7711-W. $43.99 through West Marine. Actual sizes: opening is 7 1/8” x 11 1/8”. Flange OD: 10 1/4’ x 14 1/16”
I also scrubbed and painted the hull and installed a 4-inch exhaust fan that I hope will move hot air from the engine out the cowl through a dryer-vent tube that runs to near the engine.