60ft eX race yacht to cruiser conversion.

Your deckhouse is looking very impressive!

Your proposal for a companionway hatch along with a 'garage' for it to slide into sounds good. I presume it will be on the far side of the deckhouse, as shown in the above photo?

I tried googling 'yacht companionway hatch garage' and many different links came up - here is one of them.
Construction of Hatch Garage ... https://forums.ybw.com/threads/construction-of-hatch-garage.597291/

 

You're probably already at it, but there are some more low profile options. Simplest is to buy an aluminum framed sliding hatch and build only the garage. Modern production boats often have the hatch rails embedded into the side of the opening with the garage under the deck (between deck and overhead).
You could also embed the rails into the laminate on top of the deck to slim it down.
Another approach is to have the hatch at an angle, without washboards. It can either pivot into an under deck garage or have two panels opening outwards.

Do you plan any form of dodger?

 

Are you discussing the addition of a horizontal sliding hatch to the deckhouse top you posted construction photos of, or are you talking about a vertical access into the house?

Either or both ways, I like the garage idea.

On my boat, I have a sliding hatch atop without a garage that has a big sweep seal along the front that is sandwiched by rail guides, and two removable vertical panels that make up an inverted triangle that drop in to close up the cabin -a pretty standard design.

I don’t have enough room in the cockpit to split the “doors” vertically and hang them on hinges to have them swing open, and I don’t care for having to store the X2 panels somewhere in the cabin (especially since I added a fixed window to the upper section) or the inability to quickly close the cabin.

And so I have come up with a design where the horizontal sliding hatch atop and the X2 vertical panels are all hinged together so that the cabin access panels swing and fold over each other, and the stack then flips over and lays flat atop the back half of the top sliding hatch, and the hatch then slides forward along the track to provide extra headroom and airflow in the cockpit.

The vertical side guide rails for the X2 vertical panels that used to catch the drop in sections are then hinged instead of fixed to allow them to swing out of the way so the sections can articulate, but then provide good security and sealing of the panels when closed and locked.

My reason for mentioning this is to point out there may be an opportunity to do something similar since you are building from scratch where both the vertical access doors and horizontal hatch are one system that folds, slides, and stows into a garage for protection while creating minimal intrusion into cockpit or cabin when being opened or closed.

If I’ve misunderstood, or being that it is a big boat you have plenty of room for a traditional hinged door type access, never mind.

 

Yes you’re correct - I’m building the new deckhouse and am looking for ideas on the companion way hatch.

I don’t like the looks of many, they’re a bit cluttered and detreact from otherwise clean simple lines on thr deckhouse . For this reason I’m moving away from tbe sliding idea and towards a flush hatch and molded gutter. I also have the perfect space to add hinged washboards , they can be pinned back to the side rather than remover and stowed .
I’m leaving towards this kind of idea , except with hinged washboards ;

 

Agree about the clutter and poor looks of many designs.

I think the design you posted photos of is exactly what I would choose if I had room for vertical hung washboard doors.

Having a sliding track or garage is a lot more complicated and not as easy to seal as a hinged panel that closes and latches like a hatch.

The only issue with the example you posted is I might be tempted to load the Turkey into it after having a few drinks

Too bad ovens aren’t built to marine grade standards… our local dump is full of free “hatch doors”.

 

@groper that is a very nice companionway hatch and wash board - is it a custom one off build, or is it possible to buy these 'off the shelf' as a standard production item?
If so, have you got a link to them please?

 

Ok so being summer here I’ve been sailing more than boat building , however there’s been some progress on a few things .

the next part of my plan is demolishing the Stb side of the main saloon area and installing a new galley. The new galley cabinetry is made from a product designed for motorhome and caravan fit outs here in NZ. , it’s a ply foam sandwich panel bonded with PU glue and laminate skins . Very lightweight and looks quite good too. It’s part of a system involving many different plastic moldings which join the panels together for difference types of joints ie butt joins , corners etc etc
It’s all been pre asswmbked for test fit however some of it will have to come apart to fit down the companionway.
All up the entire load of cabinetry weighs 150kg - which is probably only a fraction more than everything we are about to cut out !
I’ll get pics of the demolition next m…

 

Full mock up sans the 300mm toe kick which has to stay as part of the structural keel grid is under there and I’m not going to mess with that.




And the this shows the island bench to go right in the middle of the saloon directly over the keel between the lounge and the above cabinets ;

 

Area is now gutted and ready to start installing the new cabinetry !

 

New galley installed
Now back to finishing the deckhouse …

 

Have the deckhouse primed and rubbed down ready for gloss next week when the weather improves

this will dropped onto the deck in the area which you can see in the previous post - over the new galley and saloon area and will let some more light into the space and improve headroom upto 7 feet inside .

 

Deckhouse is coming along nicely !

 

Have been waiting an eternity for thr glass skylight but it’s finally here so I’m installing that in the cabin top atm.
Shouldn’t be too much longer until we cut a huge hole in thr deck and drop it on.

also started laying up the posts and beams for the solar hardtop: Bimini ;

 

First carbon beam is done , came out pretty good save 1 or 2 little pinholes that will need filling . 7 more to go!

 

any chance of a materials/layup description---- please ?