Sea Kayaks Techniques Bulletin Board

Re: Flush Mount Hatches

Posted By: Ed Deery
Date: Monday, 5 June 2006, at 6:20 a.m.

In Response To: Re: Flush Mount Hatches (Jeremie)

There are basically three types of designs for hatches:

* One-piece rubber, such as those made by Valley Canoe Products and KajakSport. These are de rigeur for British style boats.

* Flush mount hatch covers with a separate neoprene hatch cover which is concealed and protected by the flush cover. Many commercial fiberglass boats use these.

* Gasketed rigid hatch covers.

Any of these designs can work if well designed and constructed. Any of them can be annoyingly or even dangerously leaky if ill-conceived or haphazardly constructed. None of them are hassle-free when it comes to opening and re-sealing.

In my experience, a well-made one-piece rubber hatch cover is functionally the best choice. They are the easiest to open and re-seal, and seal very well. Unfortunately, they are probably the most expensive for the home builder and the least aestheticaly compatible with a wood boat. Poorly made ones are dicey in rough water and surf, and they are particularly unreliable on low-end polyethylene boats where the rim around the opening in the hull is molded with the boat instead of being attached separately.

I’ve also used the rigid cover with neoprene concept and found it quite satisfactory, although it involves more steps to open and re-seal. You also need to double check that the neoprene is in place before you launch, and not lying loose in the hull for storage or gone missing when nobody was looking. This design would be suitable for the home builder, although more work than the gasketed style.

My experience with the gasketed covers is that they leak no matter what you do. This may be due, at least in part, to flex in the hull and deck.

With all designs, the smaller and rounder the hole is, the better it will seal.

Messages In This Thread

Flush Mount Hatches
Jeremie -- Sunday, 4 June 2006, at 1:37 p.m.

Re: Flush Mount Hatches
Jeremie -- Sunday, 4 June 2006, at 2:11 p.m.

Re: Flush Mount Hatches
Ed Deery -- Monday, 5 June 2006, at 6:20 a.m.

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