A pie plate lets in great helpings of sky
Issue 97 : Jul/Aug 2014
While preparing Ganymede, our Cape George 31 cutter, for a summer cruise in northern waters, we thought it would be nice to get more light into the cabin. Our hatch covers were opaque, which was fine in the tropics where we always left them open, but cooler weather would dictate that we keep hatches closed more often than not. I had always meant to turn the big skylight hatch into a real skylight. This I did when I finally found some suitably-sized glass in a dumpster, but the forehatch was a more difficult problem.
It’s a sturdy one-piece fiberglass hatch lid that seals nicely and has never let in water. It seemed a shame to ditch it in favor of an ungainly acrylic-topped box frame. A bronze-rimmed deadlight would have been the classy choice but, having bought such things before, I knew that wasn’t an option. So I did the next best thing.
In the center of the hatch I cut a 9-inch hole, then glassed a small coaming around it to keep water from seeping in. The coaming fits nicely inside an inverted pie plate that I picked up for $4 at Walmart. To hold the plate down on the hatch lid, I made a simple wooden trim ring, which I fastened in place with machine screws threaded into tapped holes in the fiberglass. It lets in an amazing amount of light, didn’t cost much more than the $4 for the pie plate and — in the unlikely event the tempered glass ever breaks — my wife has two more pie plates just like it in the galley.
While she loves the extra light my new arrangements let in, Danielle does get strangely suspicious if she catches me eyeing her big glass casserole dish.
Ben Zartman and his wife, Danielle, live with their three young daughters aboard Ganymede, the 31-foot Cape George Cutter he built from a bare hull. After exploring the Canadian Maritimes last summer, they wintered in Newport, Rhode Island, where Ben will be working once more on the schooner Aquidneck for the summer. Follow them on their blog at www.zartmancruising.com.
Thank you to Sailrite Enterprises, Inc., for providing free access to back issues of Good Old Boat through intellectual property rights. Sailrite.com
