For Sale: Foredeck Hatch

[GJH]

This is the standard hatch for many vintage Hatts, about 30w x 31 Lg. Off my 56MY. Needs paint. Come for and get it for $0 or pay the freight and packaging:

Other pics available, but this is the best one. I replaced with a heavy duty stainless and tempered glass hatch, will post pics once done. It's what Ann wanted for Christmas! Did I marry right or what?

 

[SKYCHENEY]

I considered the SS hatch, but opted to just modify the original instead.

 

[SeaWhisper]

This is the standard hatch for many vintage Hatts, about 30w x 31 Lg. Off my 56MY. Needs paint. Come and get it or pay the freight and packaging:

Other pics available, but this is the best one. I replaced with a heavy duty stainless and tempered glass hatch, will post pics once done. It's what Ann wanted for Christmas! Did I marry right or what?

George,

Just curious, what did you replace it with? More light? Look forward to seeing the pictures, after the install. My wife wants more light in the V-berth!

Mike

 

[GJH]

Yes, more light indeed. Come on by and take a look someday.

Sky, that looks really sharp.

 

[SKYCHENEY]

Yes, more light indeed. Come on by and take a look someday.

Sky, that looks really sharp.

Thanks George, but I think your solution is much easier. By the time I engineered, cut, routered, fiberglassed, painted, caulked, and reinstalled, I could have had a whole new hatch.

The problem with acrylic is the expansion in the sun. You have to engineer a caulk pocket of sorts that will absorb that expansion or the acrylic will go through cycles where it warps and cracks.

You shouldn't have to worry about that.

 

[lumina]

Hi All

Sky.......wanna make one for me in your spare time !!!

 

[GJH]

Hi All

Sky.......wanna make one for me in your spare time !!!

And now, for a limited time only....The raw material is free! No need to do without while your custom hatch is being fabricated!

 

[SeaEric]

It's what Ann wanted for Christmas! Did I marry right or what?

Yes, you sure did !

 

[SKYCHENEY]

Hi All

Sky.......wanna make one for me in your spare time !!!

The simple answer is............NO. I kept asking myself while I was making that one why I thought this was a good idea.

 

[Tim Powell]

the simple answer is............no. I kept asking myself while i was making that one why i thought this was a good idea.

cause mama wanted it and she cooks !

 

[SKYCHENEY]

cause mama wanted it and she cooks !

Exactly!

 

[lumina]

Hi All,

Admiral trumps everything. I actually read that somewhere in an essay on the rules of the universe.

Given how much time and materials you invested I wouldn't want to do it again either Sky, but you did an awesome job.

 

[harnett]

could you tell us the the kind of heavy duty stainless and tempered glass hatch you used. All I been able to find are aluminum with acrylic

 

[GJH]

It was a custom hatch made for another Hatteras that subsequently pulled out of doing the refit, and the fellow doing the refit was stuck with it. I have not seen one that size from a stock company but have not looked hard. Defender has some stainless units in slightly smaller sizes. For instance:

http://www.defender.com/product.jsp?path=-1|6880|6881|320590|1068565&id=1068013

The advantage to aluminum and the fiberglass hatch I have left over, is that they are light weight. The tempered glass is also much heavier than acrylic. We open the thing maybe 20 or so times a year to ventilate the boat in temperate weather, so no big deal. Plus it looks cool.

I'll publish some pictures and dialog in a day or two; we are doing some other deck work up there. I am bad about doing before and during pictures, since it is not a common item. One thing to keep in mind is that the original deck and hatch are made for each other. The removable hatch, per se, is only the top of the assembly. The deck has a lip molded into it that acts as the bottom for the top to rest on. We decided to modify that lip to make the new one mount on top of it. Option was to demo it, didn't want to open that can of worms for one thing. More on all that later.

 

[GJH]

New Hatch

Just FYI here is the new hatch. We had to widen the "lip" that the old hatch rested on and a couple of other little mods but we like it. One compromise is that the old hatch could do some minor ventilation when closed, though we seldom used that feature. This lets in a lot more light, we can snap a black out fabric to the underside of the swing down screen if a guest so desires, though that SR has been used about 7 nights total in 5 1/2 years. Primarily a storage area. You can see we are doing some teak deck maintenance too. Anyway we are very happy with how it looks, may be awhile before we need to open it.

 

[SKYCHENEY]

Looks very nice.

 

[dastahl]

George,
The hatch looks great, very nicely done. I still have not recovered from seeing your teak decks again month ago. They are sweet and really class up the Hatteras.
David
Skooch
Fort Pierce

 

[GJH]

George,
The hatch looks great, very nicely done. I still have not recovered from seeing your teak decks again month ago. They are sweet and really class up the Hatteras.
David
Skooch
Fort Pierce

Thanks Dave, we really like them look and feel wise. I did very little to them the first five years I had the boat (no idea when they were installed but appears to be an aftermarket job). This was the year to do a complete re-caulk and pull the majority of the bungs and screws and re-seal. You can see the last tranche of those in the photo where we sanded them flat. Sanded them too after the caulking. When I bought the boat I regarded them as a net negative because of upkeep and potential issues, but they sure are a nice luxury. It would be kind of weird to go back to fiberglass decks now.

The hatch fits in nicely to the over all design scheme of the boat ; we have stainless rails forward of the pilot house, black fenders, black and white striped bench seats forward, black and stainless foot buttons for the windlass etc. And I am really liking the extra light in the forward cabin, which is where my tools are stored and along with large unknown quantities of other "stuff".

 

[capt_terry]

This is the standard hatch for many vintage Hatts, about 30w x 31 Lg. Off my 56MY. Needs paint. Come for and get it for $0 or pay the freight and packaging:

Other pics available, but this is the best one. I replaced with a heavy duty stainless and tempered glass hatch, will post pics once done. It's what Ann wanted for Christmas! Did I marry right or what?[
Hi George,Very interested in getting your old hatch ,where are you docked for the winter i am in myrtle beach myself.Thanks Terry capt_terry@yahoo.com

 

[GJH]

This is the standard hatch for many vintage Hatts, about 30w x 31 Lg. Off my 56MY. Needs paint. Come for and get it for $0 or pay the freight and packaging:

Other pics available, but this is the best one. I replaced with a heavy duty stainless and tempered glass hatch, will post pics once done. It's what Ann wanted for Christmas! Did I marry right or what?[
Hi George,Very interested in getting your old hatch ,where are you docked for the winter i am in myrtle beach myself.Thanks Terry capt_terry@yahoo.com

Terry I am in Morehead City. I can get the hatch to a Paul Starzinski's house in Jacksonville and he might be able to get it to Wilmington some day with a little coordinating. He's going to be at my boat next week some time.