Hatch Dogs

Well, a project I've long put off finally made it to the top of my list. The forward deck hatch had obviously been replaced by a previous owner. In order to secure the hatch down, he used a small brass hook and eye latch. One time when I let the hatch slam shut, the hook jammed against the frame and snapped off. Since this didn't seem like the strongest or most practical way to secure the hatch, I had been just tying it down with the remnant latch eyes over the last year. Finally, a solution came to me...hatch dogs. Plus, the hatch looked really ugly and needed some attention!



Ugly Old Hatch!

This turned out to be a really easy project (nice for once!). First, I tied the hatch down tight. Then I drilled two 5/16 inch holes, at both forward corners of the hatch opening, through the solid fiberglass hatch coaming and completely through the hatch frame.



I removed the hatch and sanded off all the old varnish. While the hatch appears well constructed from a joinery standpoint, the builder used 2 x 1 inch pine boards which are not holding up too well to the weather. Really, the whole hatch could sand to be rebuilt, but since I don't have the inclination to take this on currently, I decided just to paint the thing over to weather seal it and try and get another couple years of life out of it.


Stripped and ready to paint.

After the paint was dry, I drilled out the previously drilled 5/16 inch holes with a larger 3/8 inch bit, starting on the inside, and only going about 1/3 inch deep, into which I pounded a pair of 5/16 inch t-nuts. From the outside of the hatch, I inserted pair of 3/4 inch long 5/16 inch hex bolts with washers such that the bolts threaded just barely into the back end of the t-nuts thereby holding the t-nuts securely in the hatch frame.


These photos show the t-nut with the hex bolt mounted from behind laid out on top of the hatch lip just as it will look once installed through the lip and a view of the hardware installed where you can see the bolt from the outside threading into the t-nut back just a bit.

I re-attached the frame, then attached some star knobs to a pair of 2 inch long 5/16 inch hex bolts. These then become the dogs which insert through the holes inside the hatch coaming and tighten into the t-nuts. The result is very, very secure, non intrusive into the v-berth, and looks pretty sharp too!


Its still a beast of a hatch but at least its slightly less of an eye sore now!