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Allen Sooter

Allen Sooter here, p/v Playing Hooky,

Good Morning Carl,

I have taken some time off from the Cruise a home project to deal with other life issues, but I am back on her a full steam on the weekends. I have a question about the engine hatches, mine are sitting proud of the deck about 1/2 inch and not sure if they were built that way or if these were a replacement that was never fitted to the deck. I can see these to be a toe catcher and possible cause for a trip overboard. If you can help me on this I would be appreciative. I do have to remove them and repair a problem that they have. The previous owner had installed Trex decking and the extra weight has caused them to sag in the middle about 1 inch. Are these hatches flat or do they have a upward curve in the middle from port to starboard ? I have some photos of the refit if you would like me to send them for the web site.

Thank You

Allen Sooter

P.S. I do have 1/2 of the salon window if the man that was looking for windows from the owners notes still needs one.

Hi Carl ---- Hello Allen

Leave ‘em alone! The hatches are raised from the deck because the flange under them is higher than the main deck, in order that water running off the deck (and the hatches) will run into the “gutter” under the edge of the hatches, through the drains at the aft outboard corner of the hatches, and overboard. The original hatches were flat, but the deck itself is slightly crowned.

NOTE: The pre-1974 boats had a small (1/2” or so) drain hole, and a small hose to the overboard fitting. Those small drains plugged easily, and later boats had I 1/2 inch sink drains and a bigger hose. BUT, the sink drains had an “X” in the bottom, so still plugged easily. I cut the X’s out of mine, which seemed to resolve the plugging.

NOTE 2 : Even with the corner drains plugged, rainwater will still run overboard – barely. The gutter would be full however, so if the boat bounced around at all, the gutter could spill water into the engine compartment.

NOTE 3: I later discovered that the overboard drain through the transom was directly over the swim step bracket. One of my brackets had allowed a very small amount of water (fresh, from rain) to seep into the plywood-cored transom, and rotted the outer 2 feet of the plywood core on one side. No seawater leaks or significant loss of strength, but I eventually decided to cut out the thinner inside fiberglass, * ( See Carl’s Q & A # 10 -- the lower pic is my transom), remove the plywood core (big job!!), replace it with structural foam glassed to the thicker outside fiberglass, and re-glass the inside fiberglass --- for the entire transom. At the same time, I re-routed the overboard drains to the side hull. (Solid fiberglass --- no core. I thought that was pretty clever.)