Steve's H 17
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Steve Tellardin's Hitia 17 mods.
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MAIN HATCH COVERS

I had been in construction of my Hitia 17 for about two years when Scott mentioned an article in issue #36 of the PCA magazine, which dealt with modifications to Hitia 17 by Jan Leendertz. After reading the article, I knew I had several decisions to make. The article by Jan made a lot of sense about going to solid hatch covers. 

In thinking ahead to the type of sailing that I swear I'll never do, and then do anyway, I opted for the safer, more traditional solid hatch cover.

I had gotten to the point where the hulls were complete and nearly finished with primer. My first job was to remove the cockpit comings. This was a messy job, using a saber saw to rough cut, then finish up with a sander/grinder. The blasted things were easier to build than remove!

After the old comings were removed, I had to touch up the epoxy, and clean off (with my sander) the area where the new comings will be seated.
My favorite lumber store had a good supply of 1"x2" clear grain fir, and these were used all around the cockpit to make new coamings. I decided to make one big hatch for each hull, instead of four.

The fore and aft coamings were positioned three inches back from the beams on the fore and aft decks. The side pieces need more thought, as the inboard coaming needs to have sufficient clearance from the side deck stiffener, so the trampoline can latter be fitted. The outboard piece lies right along its stiffener. The final size of the coamings is 16 X 61 inches. All pieces were sanded, epoxy coated on all sides, then glued to the deck using epoxy and milled fibers. After they cured, I added small fillets on the outside and where I could on the inside using the radius of the W.E.S.T. system glue sticks. No fasteners were used to secure the coaming in place.
The hatch covers were built in place. Their final size is 18 X 36 inches. I placed the plywood on top of the new coamings, and measured to get the right clearance. Since the clearance I need is only about 3/16" total, I just allowed for this when tracing the outline from the coamings to the covers. The stiffeners for the hatch serve two functions. They make the hatch ridged, and provide a nice lip (water trieces were 3/4 inch square hardwood, which were epoxied to the plywood. My plywood was 1/8" mahogany sheets left over from my previous Ariki project. I had intended for this to be an interiap) to keep spray from the gasket.  

The stiffener pieces were 3/4 inch square hardwood, which were epoxied to the plywood. My plywood was 1/8" mahogany sheets left over from my previous Ariki project. I had intended for this to be an interior liner for my Ariki, but never got around to it.

I glued three thickness together using epoxy (I could have used only two, it would have been strong enough, but the ocean scares me sometimes). Besides, they are now strong enough for walking on, and several adults to sit on without deflecting the gaskets and compromising the watertight integrity of the hulls.

I used one layer of 6oz glass cloth and epoxy to completely seal the outside covers, and two coats of epoxy for the inside. This has made for a very strong hatch cover. 

I designed my hatch covers to be hinged, but I could not figure out how to do it with the existing side decks, which are on a step angle. My solution was to make blocks of wood (from fir 2 X 4 scrap), cut the angle of the bottom to fit the side decks, and make the top of the blocks such that a standard marine hinge would fit one half on the block, and one half on the hatch. I would need two each per hatch. The hatch would open from the inboard side, and would be held in the up position by a hatch holder.

Polyurethane paint will contain some non-skid grit, and I plan to have marine foam cushions with one of the new mesh covers for the main hatch covers.
FRONT HATCH COVERS

The plans call for a round watertight opening. Here in the U.S., Beckson makes excellent screw and pry out inspection plates with are easy to install, except for the crown of Hitia's deck. Again the article by Jan made me realize that the traditional hatch cover would be more usefull; 16inch square opening instead of six or eight inch round opening.

I remembered how I built the fore and aft hatches on my Ariki. They were double coamings, and never leaked a drop. The hardest part was to cut into my beautifully finished fore decks and make a large opening, when I already had a nice eight inch round opening ready for the Beckson covers.
This was another job that I fiddled up, using the tried and true eyeball method. Before I started, I made a cardboard cutout of the hatch cover I needed. I placed it were I thought it wouldn't interfere with the forward and main beams, or any other rigging feature. I studied all the plans for several days to ensure that I would not screw anything up. The rear edge of the cutout is 6 inches from the mast beam bulkhead (This is bulkhead three in the plans.) The cutout size is 16 inches square.
The double coaming hatch is really a coaming within a coaming. Once I established my opening, I used 1X2" fir for the outside coaming. I fitted the fore and aft pieces first. Allowing for the deck crown, I sat the coaming pieces over the opening next to the edge I was working on, and scribed the crown onto the piece. I used a saber saw to cut out the crowned piece, and then sanded to make them fit to the deck. The sidepieces were easy, only having to account for a constant angle, which I put on with my disk sander. When everything was ready, I epoxied the pieces onto the deck, the inside of the coamings flush with the deck opening.
Next, I used 1X4" clear grain redwood (some other stuff I had) and used these for the inner pieces. They stick up about one inch from the outside coamings. 

When the hatch covers are made (identical to the main hatch covers, finished size 18 inches square), they will sit with a gasket on the inner coamings, and the overlap stiffeners will also have a gasket on them. When its all done, you have a fore deck hatch that will not leak, a great safety feature. And since this fore deck hatch is so much larger than the round one shown in the plans, it is so much more useful.
The solid hatch covers give the boat the appearance and function of a much larger craft. The biggest thing of all is that whatever is put in the hatches, will stay dry.

These hatch covers added 30 pounds to the boat. No problem, I'll go on a diet.
This page was last updated on 09-Apr-2001.

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