Custom woodwork at a price you can’t beat
Issue 66 : May/Jun 2009
Having never given the subject much thought, I assumed that all overhead hatches were fitted with some sort of locking or adjustable support to keep them open. Not so.
Lewmar, Bomar, and other hatch manufacturers routinely incorporate adjustable supports into their products. Some boat manufacturers, though, make their own hatches, usually of opaque fiberglass and often conforming to the shape of the coachroof. Sometimes these hatches lack an adjustable support. Two of my neighboring boats fall into this category. One is a Cal 27, the other a Newport 28.
While the owner of the Cal 27 uses a wooden spoon commandeered from his galley to keep his forward hatch open, Ted, the skipper of the Newport 28, fabricated a custom adjustable hatch support for less than a dollar.
Like most sailors, Ted is resourceful and thrifty. A few minutes of Dumpster diving produced an 18-inch piece of 1 x 4 pine. He took a few quick measurements off the hatch, then used a coping saw to rough-cut a saw-tooth pattern in the wood scrap. After a little fitting and a little more trimming with the coping saw, he achieved the desired configuration. Once Ted was satisfied that the support was properly notched to accommodate the lips, flange, and gasket of the hatch and opening, he sanded it and applied a couple of coats of varnish.
Using his custom support, Ted can prop open his hatch at three different levels. Spacing the saw-teeth closer together would allow that number to increase to four or maybe five without any loss in strength. Ted attributes all of his cost to the varnish. Purchasing wood for the project would raise the cost by a small amount, depending on the species and quality chosen. By the way, the time from project conception to completion (excluding varnish drying time) was a mere 42 minutes.
Gregg Nestor is a contributing editor with Good Old Boat. He and his wife, Joyce, cruise Lake Erie aboard their Pearson 28-2 and also trailersail an O’Day 222. His third book, The Trailer Sailer Owner’s Manual: Buy-Outfit-Trail-Maintain, published by Paradise Cay Publications, was recently released and is now available.
Thank you to Sailrite Enterprises, Inc., for providing free access to back issues of Good Old Boat through intellectual property rights. Sailrite.com
