Lazarette Hatch Upgrade

The early Com-Pac 16's had a lazarette in the aft portion of the cockpit which opened up into the cabin. The hatch cover had a small bracket that would attach to a bungee strap to hold the cover down. It looks like the very first owner of my boat installed a little hasp on it to further secure it. But you could still pull it off since there was nothing securing the aft part of the hatch to the boat (except for a bungee cord). The hatch could still come off if a large wave came into the cockpit, or if the boat were knocked down, so I made a bracket to secure the aft part of the hatch. The bracket is some flat stock aluminum from the local hardware store. I don't have a vise, so I had to improvise on the bending a bit, with less than spectacular aesthetic results (but highly functional). I coated the flat stock with some plasti-cote to cut down on the rubbing against the fiberglass, and I also got a small 90 degree piece of aluminum to make a bracket to tie a rope onto. The other end of the rope is secured to my scupper drain pipe. I was recently reading about rules for offshore racing and I remember one of them being that there had to be a lanyard on the hatch board since losing the hatch would leave a big hole in the boat. That got me thinking that if I removed the lazarette hatch in rough conditions (maybe to bail water from the bilge or to grab the gas can), it would leave the boat pretty vulnerable if the thing fell overboard. So a lanyard sounded like a good idea. I also left the original little bracket in place to use with the bungee cord, but I don't think I will be using it with the new configuration.

New bracket in place:

From Misc Boat Stuff

Close up of the brackets:

From Misc Boat Stuff

The whole thing in place:

From Misc Boat Stuff

Hatch closed and hasp secured:

From Misc Boat Stuff