Securing hatchboards

[N.A.]

Offshore racing rules here (SF Bay) require the hatchboard(s) to be in and secured to a level such that a wave filling the cockpit cannot empty down the companionway entrance...

Do any of you do this? How? I just tie mine down, but the more I think about it the more I wonder if some easier way (like little door bolts on either side of the lowest board?) might be easier, such that I put that in more of the time. Also curious what any of you do offshore... do you have a single-piece hatchboard you just leave in? Do you have rubber or something around the bottom to help seal?

Any experience/thoughts appreciated!

 

[Prairie Schooner]

How do you tie them down? We don't have anything in the cockpit as a tie point. Tie points inside would need some way to connect to the board. A pad eye?

 

[Loren Beach]

Regarding hatch boards -- I still recall an existing offshore racing rule from the 80's (probably from the ORC ?) that required that the board(s) be capable of being secured from the outside or inside with the proviso that crew could still open them from either side. This leads to some interesting solutions.
Having only crewed for a few offshore delivery trips when we bought our N-26 in BC Canada, kept it in Port Angeles for a summer, and then needed to transit the Washington coast to bring it home in the fall, I decided to add a small pad eye to the top inside of the single board.

I installed a small cleat on the lip of the companionway, inside. It was quick to fasten the board down with a short piece of line, if needed. Access was proven to be quick (for my much younger self!) by opening he hatch and lowering myself down or scrambling up & out.
I failed to provide the other part of the race-required closure tho --- no way to secure the sliding hatch itself, from both sides. Rationale was that this was a summer/fall trip and we were only going out in calm(er) seas. Actually, by watching the weather patterns, we had no wind at all, and motored all the way from PA to Astoria.

Also: you need to have a way to secure your seat hatches (aka lazaret hatch) when in possible knock-down conditions. I have a plastic clip that can go thru the hasp, and is stored on a nearby pad eye.
Story time: on the one rough trip down to SF on another boat, we had one boarding sea in the mid watch that filled the cockpit. Some water did indeed squirt around the closed hatch boards. The seat hatch had been secured down as the wind increased, tho. It should have been gasket-ed or taped, as well.
Quite a bit of water working its way forward and was sloshing back n forth in the bilges, and we had to sponge it out with a large bailing-size sponge. Challenging work in a moving environment, it was.

 

[Christian Williams]

I believe this to be a non-issue for us. There is simply no way the companionway of a boat with a bridge deck is going to take on water, even if on its side. A flooded vessel might wallow and fill, but that's a different catastrophe.

There are other things to worry about.

 

[Loren Beach]

Regarding Christian's spot-on point......
Having started out sailing with a Ranger 20, designed by Ray Richards with a bridge deck and traveler.... and having one knock down that put about a couple of quarts into the cabin/cuddy, max, we knew we liked the security of that type of cockpit.
Our next boat did have a low companionway opening, and in rough weather I did sometimes keep the lower board in.

The Olson has bridge deck and it provides several different design advantages. Besides the obvious one of keeping sea water out, this increases interior useful space quite a lot. The traveler is in a great place for sailing, and also provides a strong point (loaded-up mainsheet) for grabbing onto - entering or exiting the interior.

Interesting Discussion, and always worth having.

 

[KS Dave]

Randall, former owner of E26 "Turtle", replaced the drop boards altogether with a door that he felt met offshore rules but was also removable if he wanted to sail without it altogether. It had provisions to open the latch from both inside and outside - a pretty clever design.

E26-3 - Companionway Door

I don't hide the fact that I think companionway drop boards are awful! I won't go into all the details and reasons they are terrible because you all live with them too. I will just say that they are kin to the log a caveman pushes into the...

ericsonyachts.org

E26-3 - More Pictures of Companionway Door

Here are some more pictures of the new companionway door.

ericsonyachts.org

He also covered them in his boat tour video.

 

[Christian Williams]

One exception to my opinion is storm survival. When a Jordan series drogue is deployed, the bare-poles yacht runs at a few knots dead downwind, before potentially huge breaking seas. In this case, circumstances might cause a wave to crest into the cockpit and with great force into the hatch boards.

Under these conditions one would go below, secure the companionway, and ride out the storm while amending the Last Will and Testament.

The sliding hatch would be closed, and secured to the hatch boards inside, so a 10,000-pound wall of water couldn't rip it open.

I made wood sticks, attached with Velcro, to physically prevent that. An alternative is a hasp on the inside of hatch and boards, which would never else be needed.

In the abandonment of Wildflower while riding out a heavy gale, Skip Allan's greatest concern was the above scenario--what if the hatch boards gave way? It is worth thinking through if ultimate survival is a concern.

 

[N.A.]

I used eyebolts; don't ask -- it seemed to make sense at the time, but is a pain since now the boards don't lie flat when out. New boat owner mistake.

My 1998 Pacific Seacraft-built E34 has a bridge deck that is well below the cockpit combings; there is no question that if the cockpit filled it would be above the level of the companionway entrance (even without the likely attendant sloshing of the water, which would make even equal height of entrance not really enough.) For me, the 1st hatchboard beings me to even height with the lowest point in the combings (which is at the stern, not near companionway where they are higher). Outside the Gate, some fo the waves/seas I have encountered (and I have not even been out there much) have definitely left me feeling that all three hatchboards will be in whenever I am out there.

The cleat inside sounds good; I have a wonkier approach right now.

I am thinking of getting a single-piece, 3/4" thick piece of clear plastic, maybe with a rubber seal around the edges, for use when I want the hatch closed due to sea conditions. Or maybe the same thing in 2 pieces, one high enough to match the combings (but low enough to make it easier to get in/out without having to remove the whole things) and one top piece.
--> Those thoughts are actually what led me to post. Trying to decide how to do it best.

I had not fully thought out the offshore requirement of the inside-locking hatch... like others, I have not done it. Now I realize it probably needws to be stronger than I thought... Christian's idea sounds good.

In any case, whether or not one feels the hatchboards really need to be in, having them locked in place is actually a racing requirement up here, so at least some of us need to figure it out. Having been in larger waves, I immediately saw the reasoning -- I take no more convincing that it is a good idea. And it is not just the Wildflower loss; various (Farallones, etc.) races here periodically have sufficient conditions that some folks get the cockpit filled, sometimes more than once. And once is enough to want the hatchboards.