hatchboard dimensions?

[opie]

Anyone have the exact dimensions of the MacX hatchboard? Thanks, I am repairing a slide-in screen I made for the opening and the boat is far away.....

[Rick Westlake]

My 1999 MacX hatchboard is 35 3/16" wide at the top edge, 21 1/2" wide at the bottom edge, and 33 5/16" high. The slide-in (trapezoid) edges are 34" long. It's in my basement, and Bossa Nova sports three wooden drop-boards.

Hope this helps - Rick

[opie]

Thanks Rick,

Here is what I am fixing. With your dimensions now, it is of to the garage. I fell on the screen recently when getting up on deck at night.......

[Rick Westlake]

Why a rigid screen?

I used fiberglass screen material with a strip of webbing and four snaps inside the hatch-slider at the top, and glass-bead weights sewn into the bottom, to make a screen that hangs down flat outside the companionway. It just brushes aside when I pass through the companionway. When I need it, I snap it in place; when I'm done with it, I wad it up and toss it up into the forepeak.

If you have really muscular blackflies, you could add Velcro along the sides of the companionway. I've thought of that, but more as a "burglar alarm" should a stranger presume to enter the cabin at night.

You could also hang it with Velcro, but I want to make a vinyl "rain curtain" to keep the companionway open at anchor in "iffy" weather. Snaps will be a little more robust and reliable for this, and double-sided snaps on the curtain will let me hang the bug-screen inside of it. (I'll make it so I can snap it to the seat edges, about a foot from the hatch, and drape it back to the companionway edges; it will just overlap the bottom hatchboard, and so supply good ventilation while it keeps the rain out. Unsnapped at the bottom, it should hang a few inches below the bottom hatchboard's edge.)

[Gunkholer]

I used fiberglass screen material with a strip of webbing and four snaps inside the hatch-slider at the top, and glass-bead weights sewn into the bottom, to make a screen that hangs down flat outside the companionway. It just brushes aside when I pass through the companionway. When I need it, I snap it in place; when I'm done with it, I wad it up and toss it up into the forepeak.
You could also hang it with Velcro, but I want to make a vinyl "rain curtain" to keep the companionway open at anchor in "iffy" weather. Snaps will be a little more robust and reliable for this, and double-sided snaps on the curtain will let me hang the bug-screen inside of it. (I'll make it so I can snap it to the seat edges, about a foot from the hatch, and drape it back to the companionway edges; it will just overlap the bottom hatchboard, and so supply good ventilation while it keeps the rain out. Unsnapped at the bottom, it should hang a few inches below the bottom hatchboard's edge.)

We're headed to the mountains next weekend & I was trying to think of a screen to make for the companionway...your's sounds pretty simple enough.
Do you have pics in the 'Mods' thread? (I searched w/no success...) Could you add a pic if not there? MUCH appreciated!

[opie]

I use a flex screen for the front vee berth hatch, but I'll stick with the rigid one for the companionway. It stows away easily in the head with the orig hatchboard and is simple to put in and take out. Easier than snaps I think. I can see where most would prefer the flexible screen though.

[K9Kampers]

Here are pics of the hatchboards I made four seasons ago:



Plastic screen sandwiched between construction grade plywood, 1/8" outer & 3/8" inner. Seven coats of varnish on the exterior, interior uncoated & now with mold.

[Rick Westlake]

We're headed to the mountains next weekend & I was trying to think of a screen to make for the companionway...your's sounds pretty simple enough.
Do you have pics in the 'Mods' thread? (I searched w/no success...) Could you add a pic if not there? MUCH appreciated!

Sorry, I didn't take photos - but what you need would be the measurements, anyways. This is one instance where a picture is worth less than the words - and worthless without the words.

I got 48-inch rolled fiberglass window screen, and cut it 8 inches larger in length & width than the hatchboard measurements - that was 43" wide at the top, 29½" wide at the bottom, and 42" high. I used my fiberglass hatchboard as a guide for the final size ... you could use your old screen door.

Sewed the top hem first, with a strip of 1" wide polyester webbing (left from another project) as reinforcement. Then the side hems, and made them fit about 2" wider than the board - this was to overlap the edges of the companionway. Finished with the bottom hem, and made this long enough to drop 1 or 2 inches below the edge of the companionway opening.

I left the bottom hem "tunnel" open at the sides, and filled it with the kind of big glass beads that craft stores sell for silk-flower arrangements. That provides weight for the screen to lie flat across the companionway.

I put a narrow strip of wood, fastened by wood screws from the outside of the hatch slider, into the inside of the bottom edge of the slider. This was to take the wood-screw snap bases. I put snaps at the outer edges of the hatch, inside; then put two more snaps between those, spaced equally. With the slider closed, the edges of the screen overlap the top edges of the hatchboard frame.

Really, it's simple - it took me about a half-hour to make and smooth the wood strip; maybe an hour to cut out and make the screen; five minutes and a couple of screws to secure the wood strip inside my hatch, and about thirty seconds to put the screen in place - twenty of that finding where I left the screen last time I removed it. And when I go through, it just brushes aside.

Good luck - Rick

[Doug W]

Here are pics of the hatchboards I made four seasons ago:



Plastic screen sandwiched between construction grade plywood, 1/8" outer & 3/8" inner. Seven coats of varnish on the exterior, interior uncoated & now with mold.

How do you prevent buggy critters from coming in through the gap at the top of the wood door and the sliding hatch at night when interior lights are on and the little fellers are trying to get in? Or, is that not really a problem?

Thanks,
Doug

[K9Kampers]

How do you prevent buggy critters from coming in through the gap at the top of the wood door and the sliding hatch at night when interior lights are on and the little fellers are trying to get in? Or, is that not really a problem?

Thanks,
Doug

This is New England - yup, there's little fellers fixin' ta get in! The strip of duct tape shown on the inside of the hatch covers the gap between the hatch & the boards. Socks or rags stuff in the end gaps of the hatch track.