DIY floor hatch?

[madgadget]

Hey all, somewhere I saw on here an example and pictures of someone who had cut their own floor hatch. I was looking for some inspiration as I want to do the same, and could do with a little guidance, trouble is I can't now find what I saw anywhere.

Just wondered if any of you fine people could help me

Basically, I have a 19 foot sports cuddy boat. The floor is about 1ft above the boat floor and the main inbuilt fuel tank is there etc. There is a whole lot of room there which I cannot reach and I'd like to make use of this by adding a few hatches.

Any help along these lines would be great

 

[bcddd214]

Re: DIY floor hatch?

That all depends on the tools you have available and your determination level.
My first thought would be, find a qualified bodyman and save yourself the headaches.
Your ambiguous question leaves PLENTY of room for pitfalls.

 

[madgadget]

Re: DIY floor hatch?

Where do I go with that? I rebuilt my last boat, I stripped it, sprayed it, rewired it, reupholstered it, rebuilt the trailer etc etc. I'm capable and have all the tools I need. I just wanted some input from someone who had done this before, that was all. And any hints that they may care to share.

If not I'll just go about it my own way but thought I would see what people could offer first that's all.

 

[madgadget]

Re: DIY floor hatch?

This may help you see what I mean.

This entire floor area has loads of wasted space beneath it. This is where I plan to add a few hatches to make room of this space. I want a ski locker etc.

Pretty simple really.

 

[Bondo]

Re: DIY floor hatch?

Ayuh,... I think you'll find Alot less space under there than you Think is there...
But, anyways,...
Cut a Hole the size, 'n shape you want,...
Build a ledge along the edges for the cover to sit on,...
Build a cover, 'n drop it in...

All Done...

 

[1972winner]

Re: DIY floor hatch?

it looks like you COULD put two hatches in.if you run them parallel with the length of the boat,and maybe put them on each side of the center...looks like maybe 6 inches apart from each other and behind the seats there would be a great place for em.(one on each side of that gray circle thingy in the pic.lol)

 

[Mark42]

Re: DIY floor hatch?

I agree with Bondo and 'winner. Cut a 2" or so hole with a hole saw in the center, then you can determine how far the stringers are spaced apart. Don't forget the stringers are probably NOT parallel, but on a slight angle, narrower in the front and wider in the back, so take a few measurements.

Two hatches down the center would probably give you the most space, but remember, you are using the bilge area, so it could be moist in there. Not the best place to store PFD's and such, but great for ski's, anchors, and the like. One would probably suffice, but if you want two, try to leave 1 to 2 feet of undisturbed deck between them so there is some deck to prevent the hull from flexing. You may have to put a vertical support under this section to keep it from flexing, now that it has lost the support of the rest of the deck. The front and back sections of the deck should have a piece of 2x4 screwed and glued to the bottom to give some rigidity to the edge. Let it stick out about 1.5" and the hatch can rest on it.

Remove the existing floor right up to the edge of the stringers, and about 3 ft in length. Get some 1/2" ply, and cut a new piece of deck to fill in. Then cut a second piece about 2" smaller around the edge, and glue to the center bottom of the first piece. This makes it strong enough to stand on without flexing, and leaves 2" clearance around the edge so it can rest on a ledge. There is probably going to be about 20" or so between the stringers, and one sheet of 1/2" will flex when walked on. So double it up!

Should look something like this when viewed from the bottom (this is from when I lowered the deck between the stringers, similar to making a hatch, my boat had 22" between stringers):

Also be sure to undercut the size if you want to wrap carpet of some other finish material around the sides. Coat with CSM and resin and apply your finish material or just leave the wood grain exposed.

And don't forget a nice piece of stainless hardware to lift the hatches by:

Take pics and post them!

 

[Fisherball]

Re: DIY floor hatch?

Just a wild guess that the area may be filled with foam. Please post photos as you go, I want to do the same thing to mine as I restring & deck it.

 

[madgadget]

Re: DIY floor hatch?

Hi All Firstly, The stingers are no where near the deck. In fact oddly the floor isn't at any point touching the stingers. I need to look closely at how its been done, but I didn't look today.

I did however get a pic from within the cuddy looking back down the boat.

You can see the fuel tank, right up front is where the batteries would sit. The fuel tank is only about 70 litres. Way to small for me, so I want to remove this (which will require chopping the floor out) and the replacing it with two long/slim 95 litre tanks, but I wont know exactly what/how until I get there.

You can see the stinger running up the middle of the tank. This boat has 5 stingers running front to back. Seems quite a lot? Then the floor is sitting on that bit of nasty 2x4 wood. which seems to be resting on the fuel tank. That's the only support that runs front to back of the floor at all.

Anyway. I'm half tempted just to cut out the whole floor and then replace it with a new one. Would make re-fitting it out 10000x easier.

 

[madgadget]

Re: DIY floor hatch?

Mark, I like those handles. What about locks? Is it not preferred to seal the hatches down somehow?

 

[Peteco]

Re: DIY floor hatch?

This site:

http://scrumbleproject.wordpress.com/

has a good front page about hatches, and back in late 2008 or so he shows how he builds up a ledge on the underside of a surface and fits a hatch.

 

[Mark42]

Re: DIY floor hatch?

Mark, I like those handles. What about locks? Is it not preferred to seal the hatches down somehow?

All the boats I've seen with ski lockers in the center had no locking or latching mechanism. The weight of the panel keeps it in place. They usually have a handle or lifting ring to make opening easier. One I saw just had a hole drilled in it that you stick your finger through to pull up.


Madgadget, I have NEVER seen a boat built like that. I guess the fuel tank is strong as it seems to act as a stressed member of the deck. I might be inclined to pull the whole deck and re-do it with a more traditional stringer and design in all the storage compartments you want. A pair of saddle tanks above the deck will free up all the space underneath for compartmentalizing as you see fit.

 

[erikgreen]

Re: DIY floor hatch?

The flat-out easiest way to do it is to buy a pre-fab hatch from somewhere like Greatlakesskipper.com and install it.

But if you'd like to make your own, here's a great thread on classicseacraft about a guy that makes some, and also molds the gutter (the ledge the hatch sits on):

http://www.classicseacraft.com/foru...7&page=0&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=&fpart=10&vc=1

Read the whole thread and the guy's other one on the same board for lots of great techniques.

Erik

 

[madgadget]

Re: DIY floor hatch?

Awesome thanks guys. I shall read that all soon.

Agree about the layout strange isn't it? It was built in Kent which is SE England and is about 18 years old. I have no original literature or photos so I dont know how much its changed since new for sure. Its been played with a bit over that time but nothing too much, from what I can see. Just appears to have had some kind of makeover at some point, but its an 'average' job. I want to modernise it really and turn it into a craft I'm proud of

If your interested i'll let you know how I get on with it.