Placement of hatches

[tx river rat]

The Freedom I am building will be mainly for trips.
Is there any preference on putting hatches and tie downs on the deck and if you do have a preference why?
Thanks
Ron

 

[oldsparkey]

The tie downs I have are close to the cockpit so things can be placed under them and grabbed when needed without moving. The hatches are forward and aft of them on the Coho.

The Freedom I did not put an exterior hatch on it thru the decking , it is interior and part of the bulkhead.

Chuck.

 

[Kayak Jack]

Ron,

Let me give you an alternative way of looking at things. do not cut holes in your new boat for hatches. they are unnecessary. In the end pour in each end of the boat, put one end of a 12" cord. Tie in a little pulley into each end. Put a long, circular rope in each end, and loop them together at the middle of the boat.

Bend on a 3' cord onto the long ropes. The first piece into the fore and aft ends should be something small that will fit well up into the stems. A folded air mattress, small dry bag, etc. Pull the rope to run it up into the far ends. Push in the rest of the load up under the deck.

This simple system alleviates a need for bulkheads & hatches. You can use a cockpit liner if you like to keep excess water out of the cockpit area.

Think this one over & ask questions if you like.

 

[tx river rat]

Kayakjack
Now that is a swell ideal I can just see one problem.
I would get confushed and not know which way to pull to load and unload
Ron
OHHH scares me that I understod that and it made sense

 

[adminold]

No sweat; I get confused on it too. I find that, if I've been tugging for an hour or so, and the darned thing hasn't budged, 3 out of 4 times I can figure it out and just grab the other side of the line.

Kayak Jack

 

[tx river rat]

Fellow would sure have to make sure his tow rope was put up might turn the durn boat inside out
Ron

 

[oldsparkey]

Ron.....

OK .. Fess up .. where were you when Jack , Mack ,Oldyaker and I did the islands down at the glades and you saw Jack doing that with his tow rope. All of us were sworn to secrecy so you had to be off shore or in the bushes watching.

Jack was sure that tow rope was attached to his food bag. Let me tell you ... right now... a inverted kayak is not a pretty sight , well built but not pretty. :roll:

Chuck.

 

[tx river rat]

boy that must have been one stout rope tied to food you know he give a workout now if it was soap and towels a piece of twine be tough enough
Ron

 

[Kayak Jack]

PSST - Ron. Just agree with Chuckie. He gets a bit feisty, otherwise. Poor old fella is pint low on his lithium today.