I have several of your books (my wife accuses me of having them memorized). I spent a number of years cruising on a Bristol 32. This boat had hatches oriented only forward. My current boat is a Freedom 33. I am replacing the 4 hatches. The two on centerline on the cabintop I’m planning to replace with double opening hatches (probably Manship or possibly the Bomar Series 100 cast hatches). There are also 2 hatches towards the port side of the cabin top (which is crowned not flat but was built with flat areas for the hatches but slanting upward towards the centerline). One over the head and one over the galley. Currently they open to port (when open the opening is to port). I’m wondering if it would be better to have them open to starboard. Do you have any advice/opinion on this? I was also considering using the Bomar seabreeze offshore hatches for these 2 since they have the unique venting design. Any comments. Thanks in advance for your input. Regards, Alan
Hi Alan: Generally speaking, we orient our hatches for best air flow at anchor. You need somewhere for the air to enter and then go back out. Our experience is that the air likes to enter aft, through the companionway hatch (if there is a dodger fitted it works even better) and then exit through a forward hatch which opens facing aft. We usually orient the saloon hatches so they face forward.
There are some drawings and discussion in more detail on this subject on Offshore Cruising Encyclopedia.
Regarding hatch types, we favor the cast Bomars. They don’t have the O-ring leak potential of all the other styles. From experience I can tell you that if they are properly dogged, they will not leak, even under direct wave impact. Steve
Posted by Steve Dashew (November 30, 1999)
