PROJECT
Seal and latch Coaster
Lazarette Lids.
DANGER Note:- Petrol
fumes should not be allowed to accumulate in the Lazarette. If the lids are sealed,
either fuel should be carried on deck or separate provision should be made for
ventilation.
The first two photos show two solutions one from
Appuskidu and one from Tom Colville’s Whisper of Sunart.
My hinges leave the top clear for sitting and are easier to source but Tom
Colville’s are easier to fit and also look strong and seamanlike. Both of us
have needed to use plastic packing pieces. Slim pieces for
mine and thicker pieces for Tom’s.
Appuskidu
Whisper of Sunart
The project
below describes the thoughts and processes leading to the sealing of the lids
on Appuskidu.
PURPOSE.
a) To prevent
ingress of water when heeled.
b) To replace
the tie down cords with a local securing method for ease of keeping the lids
secured at sea.
c) To enable
separation of the Lazarette bilge from the cabin bilge (May require additional
work depending on your boat)
d) To stop the
cords from interfering with storage in the lockers.
e) To stop the
cleats and cords from interfering with access and storage under the bridge
deck.
f) To prevent
loss of the contents of the Lazarette in the unlikely but possible event of
capsize.
BACKGROUND.
I have always
regarded the aft locker as a potential bouyancy tank,
and I am a firm believer that the locker is not serving its purpose if it
doesn’t keep the contents dry. (As well as my sandwiches, the "ammunition" for my cannon
lives in there and I have to keep my powder dry!) I was very happy with the
locker lids on my mark one Lugger after I sealed the locker. When I got the
Coaster however, I quickly grew exasperated with having to keep diving into the
cabin to gain access to the fixing ropes. I also got fed up with the way that
the route of the ropes interfered with storage in the lockers. I saw too, some
teak turnbuckles securing the locker lids on a Dutch Coaster that was visiting
the
I discovered
too, that on the Coaster, when the lee rail is down, water on the side deck
inevitably finds its way into the locker. At that point, this project moved to
the top of the priority list.
PARTS USED (2003 prices)
Stainless
Steel Hinge 15 x 15 x 50mm A4 #04253 - Qty 4
www.seascrew.com (Under:- Marine Hardware and Equipment,
Stainless Steel Hinges)
Price £2.49
each + Carriage
Stainless
Steel version of Protex Prolatch
641-1000 SS - Qty 2
Price £7.19
each
matching catch plate to suit 001-1000SS - Qty 2
Price £.0.89
each
All plus £2
Carriage plus VAT
www.protex-fasteners.com (enter and then search for product code 641-1000)
These are a
bit bigger than I first had in mind but their special feature is the way they
pull the lid down. Also, the pattern of fixing holes straddles the new seal and
the deck surface that it mates to.
Their "safety" latches make
them an absolute dream to use, and they will take a small padlock. For me they
are the key to the success of the project.
Self Adhesive
Foam hatch seal
I used self adhesive seal 3mm x 25mm - Qty 4 metres
from Compass Marine of
Price £1 per
metre.
At the time of
writing this product is NOT on their web site www.compassmarine.co.uk
To
order, phone 01803 835915.
For other sizes ask for a catalogue.
An alternative
supplier is www.sealsplusdirect.co.uk
At the time of
writing they don’t list any self adhesive ones but
have a much wider range of seals. (The self adhesive
solution might not be good if you sail in the tropics)
½"x 4mm C/Sunk
head Bolts (A4 stainless steel set screws) for the latches 3 each = 6 off
1"x 4mm ditto
for the catch plates 2 each = 4 off
Nyloc nuts for above = 10 off
Washers for
above = 10 off
3/8" x No 8 C/Sunk
screws for the hinges 6 each = 24 off (Or bolts to choice- see text)
All
from Sea-screw. You
might like to have more washers and nuts available so that you when you drop
them, you can recover them in one go rather than every time you drop one.
Rubber "Corks" to seal the
now defunct rope tubes - 2 off. From most chandlers that stock dinghy parts.
Suitable
material to pack out the hinges - see text.
Suitable
Material to mount the catchplates - see text.
CONSIDERATIONS
This project
will make access to the lazerette much easier when on
board but a little less easy from land when the boat is on the trailer. When
you reach into the locker from over the side, you may now have to stand on the
trailer to reach around the raised cover. When sailing
(according to your mainsheet arrangements) you may need to push the main sheet
out of the way for access to the Port locker.
The sealing of
the lockers will mean that either fuel tanks will have to be stowed on deck or
some form of alternative ventilation will be required to stop dangerous fumes
from building up in the lazarette.
This project
requires drilling holes in the locker lids and the deck. Plan and mark up then
check twice more before drilling.
The lids on my
Coaster are already higher than (proud of) the deck. This puts a limit from an
aesthetic point of view on the thickness of the sealing foam that can be used.
With 3mm foam I hardly notice any difference.
The gap under
the lids on my coaster is not consistent all around. The lids rock slightly
athwart‑ships. I
overcame this by having a good fit at the hinge edge (gunwale side) leaving the
unlatched lids slightly raised at the inboard edge. The "Prolatch" latches pull
them down to give a good seal all around.
PROCEDURE
Foam
Best to have a
second person to hand whilst carrying out the first two processes (Particularly
the second) so that they can summon help if you fall into the locker!
On a sunny
day, take a mirror and stick your head into the locker on each side in turn to
look under the closed lid on the opposite side to get a feel for the amount of
daylight under the lid before deciding what thickness of sealing foam to order.
Back into the locker again with a chinagraph pencil and mark the perimeter of the hatch hole onto the underside of the lids so that when the lid is
open you will be able to see where to put the foam. This is a difficult stretch
and you won’t be able to reach the corner furthest from you. If you can mark a
good bit of the sides that point into that corner you should be able to project
those lines to where that corner must be.
Stick on the
foam. As it stretches slightly, cut each piece after fitting the previous one
rather than cutting them all first. Beware, the
self-adhesive foam has a very aggressive adhesive - make sure it is in the
right place before touching it down and peel off the backing as you go.
Hinges.
Jam some scrap
ply or similar into the gaps around the lids to keep the lids centralised. You
will see that when the lid is centralised, the gap between the outboard edge of
the lid and the corresponding edge of the deck is greater than the thickness of
the closed hinge. I used some 2mm plastic sheet from modelling leftovers
(Source - high street model shop) to pack the outboard flap of the hinge. Any
crush and salt water resistant material will do.
Since this
area is frequently in contact with the seat of my trousers, before fitting the
hinges I took a file and rounded off the edges of the hinges in the area at the
ends of the pins.
Marking where the hinges go along the
edge is not a problem but marking the vertical position for the hinges is not
easy and is critical. When fitting a wooden door in the house, you can move the
screw positions by putting matchsticks into the holes. That doesn’t work with
fibreglass. If you fit the hinges too low, the lid may bind against the deck at
the outboard rear corner. If you fit them too high they will interact with your
posterior. If they are too high also, your hinge fixings on the outboard side
will go into the deck edgeways instead of through the vertical surface facing
the side of the lid. This might throw a chip off the gelcoat
or worse.
Your mileage
may vary but the height that worked for me was determined by first marking the
position of the hinges on the lid by butting the pin edge of the hinges up to
the underside of a straightedge laid across the top of the lid. After fixing
the hinge to the lid, the position for the deck side was determined by seeing
where the hinge lay after applying slight pressure to the lid for partial
compression of the foam seal.
After careful
drilling of pilot holes and offering up I fitted just the central screw of each
hinge and then used the straight-edge to ensure that
the pins of each pair of hinges were in line with each other before committing
the other holes. I used screws to fix the hinges on the basis that if I had got
it all wrong, the screws would pull out with less damage than bolts. As the
installation is successful I plan to replace the screws with bolts. If you want
to do the same, then when positioning the hinges,
check that you have clearance behind for the nuts and washers. When using
screws, remember to countersink the hole to prevent the gel coat spalling and if the screw is too tight, don’t force it -
drill the hole a half mil larger.
After fitting
the hinges, the only adjustment possible is to change the thickness of the
packing or elongate your holes!
Latches
These are
considered in two parts. The Latch and the catch-plate.
The Latch has
three fixings. Two are obvious, the third is hidden
when the latch is closed. I determined the fore and aft position by first
marking the centre of the inboard edge of the lid and then moving the latch aft
from this until it was as far back as it would go whilst still looking
reasonably central to the eye. This is also to benefit the seat of my trousers
as I frequently sit with my back against the mizzen.
The athwart-ships position was
determined by placing the latch as close to the inboard edge of the lid as
possible whilst still having clearance for the nut and washer beside the lip
underneath the lid. Offer the latch up again together with the Catch-plate to
ensure that the catch plate fixings will be central in the strip of fibreglass
deck that lies between the lid and the rudder trunking
woodwork. This is to ensure that there will be clearance for the nuts and
washers under those fixings too. With the latch held in position it is easy to
mark the position of one hole, complete that one fixing then mark and complete
the others.
The final
Catch-plate position is determined by the latch. When you first offer them up
together, you will see that the catch plate is floating in free air and jutting
out over the gap around the lid. However, with the fixing holes positioned over
the centre of the fibreglass strip alongside the rudder trunking
woodwork, the amount by which the plate juts out should still leave lots of
clearance for the lid to open and close. For vertical positioning, little
mounting blocks will need to be made that are the same size or a little larger than
the catch plate mounting face with a thickness to suit your installation. Mine
ended up at about 5mm thick but yours will be different. I had some small
scraps of teak to hand, but mahogany or a little piece off granny’s discarded
oak dresser will serve. Planing these down adjusts
the tightness of the seal. When the foam seals had settled down after a couple
of weeks my mounting blocks needed a couple of shavings taking off to tighten
up.
To complete the fixing, I had to clear
away some lightweight filler from underneath the deck by the side of the rudder
trunking. Then to offer up the nuts I used a small socket set and put two nuts
on top of each other in the socket so that one was protruding and would "start" more easily.
I then removed the second nut before tightening up. Screws would be an easier
option although in this position less secure.
Odds and ends
When you are
happy with it all and sea (and seat) trialed your
work, you can get some padlocks (I leather mine to prevent rattles), un‑reeve
the fixing ropes to the cabin and put the dinghy bungs in the ends of the tube.
You have also "won" two plastic
cleats that can be removed from the cabin. Don’t cut the ropes away from the
lids though. Instead, shorten the ropes and fix the free end inside the top of
the locker under the aft deck to make a soft end stop for the lids. On my
McNulty Coaster I was able to adapt one of the fixings of the mainsheet horse
slide to anchor the cord but if you have the tubing horse you will need an
alternative anchorage - perhaps to one of the bolts that secures the capping of
the rudder trunking.
P.S. When you are done you could make use
of the surface underneath the lids as Jack O’Keefe has done on Tyboat.
