Those darn leaky cockpit hatches in C-Dory 25's

H

helm

New member
I sent this note to Rich Finlay at C-Dory
Do other CD 25 owners agree?
Eric






Rich, would C-Dory be willing to work with your C-Dory 25 owners to improve the current cockpit hatches. We love our CD 25 and it took us 1000 trouble free miles this summer from Coeymans New York through the Erie Canal, Trent Severn, Georgian Bay and North Channel to Mackinaw City in Michigan. The only fault I have found in the boat is the leaky cockpit hatches.
I can't hose out my cockpit without half of the water going into the bilge, even if we empty the water out of our cooler most of the water ends up in the bilge. I have to say one of the first things I notice when I looked at my first CD 25 at the dealership in Portland was that there was a puddle of water in the bilge caused by those darn leaky hatches.
The boat truly should have a dry bilge.
Would CDory engineer a retrofit?
I am convinced most every current owner would pay happily for a fix and a dry bilge as my concern is that there are multiple screw perforations in the bilge that likely were not over drilled, filled with epoxy and then screws placed, a situation which as you know will allow degradation of the balsa core.
I'm not asking for a free ride and would happily pay for a dry bilge, and I bet most of the other CD-25 owners would as well.
Let me know what you think
Best
 
This is an item which I considered when I rebuilt the cockpit of my 2003 C Dory 25. (I suspect that the newer hatches are slightly better than those). Bomar has several hacths which could be used--with some modifications:
http://store.hamiltonmarine.com/browse.cfm/4,2552.html (I am not sure that this one is water tight, so I went up to the next type which is:--and mil spec to 30 foot head of pressure:
http://store.hamiltonmarine.com/browse.cfm/4,131.html

These are not cheap (from $370 on up). They would require some substantial modifications, but some boats use these hatches.

The fact is that in each boat there is a price point. C dory has chosen to use expensive Diamond Sea Glaze windows and doors (there are similar products which are cheaper)--and a $40 access hatch vs a $400 access hatch. Any of our boats could be modified to put in the the more expensive hatches. There are some limitations, and these include the depth below the hatch for its locking mechanism (5" in the second rounded hatch).

Would putting in the hatches keep all of the water out of the boat? Perhaps in the newer boats--but my Tom Cat has a similar deck and somehow water seems to find its way into the bilge.

It is not just an engineering problem, but a hight off the deck, non skid, fastener, seal the edge, etc problem. There are hatches (and Bomar may not be the only provider--I just choose Bomar since I was familiar with the line).

I would love to see a simple fix, but I don't think it will be a molded plastic hatch--it will have to be an aluminum hatch, with dogs and gaskets.

Let us know what response you get.
 
Heres Rich's prompt reply:
Does anyone out there have some ideas for C-Dory?

We are aware of the tendency of the hatches to leak and the best solution is a redesign of the cockpit that can raise the floor to allow a channel to the drains from the hatches. This causes some other issues that aren't easily addressed and won't help you for a retrofit. One less elegant solution is to fasten (screw) the hatch down and caulk it but this obviously limits access and use.



Frank Walter (frankwalter@C-Dory.com) may be able to help you specifically with getting the seal on the hatch to function better as he has addressed this with other 25s. He has also seen water coming in from the side boxes if they haven't been sealed properly and may have other ideas to mitigate the water into the bilge.



I am happy to share with all 25 owners a fix if we can come up with a solution that fits everyone's needs.



Rich F.
 
This may well be too simplistic, but how about a single sheet of solid rubber mat running from the end of the cabin back as far as possible to the rear and up the side walls of the boat about 4-6 inches?

Is there anything down there in those hatches that you need constant access to?

Could the fish boxes be converted over to some other storage use and the mat used to seal off most all of the water intrusion into the hatches?

I realize that this may be just too simple to really work, not having a CD-25 myself and not experiencing the problems you're talking about, but at this hour, $0.02 doesn't buy much mental output and I think I'm brain dead from all he election banter, hype, and over done discussion by the media!

Joe. :lol: :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock: :lol:
 
What make/model of hatches are installed currently? One possible solution that wouldn't require a serious modification is to design aluminum hatches that would fit in the same holes. If one does this with good cad drawings and jobs it out to a fab shop, you can usually get items made at a pretty reasonable price, especially if you have them made in multiples. My guess is that one could design something that could be produced for around the $400 price of the hatches Bob mentioned but that would be drop in replacements for the current hatches. The easiest solution would be to have an aluminum frame with a good o-ring gasket and a lid that is screwed down with recessed bolts. If you used 1/4-20 bolts with a knurled knob and a slot in the top, you could remove them/tighten them most of the way by hand but the final tightening/initial loosening would require a screw driver or similar. That would be cheaper than designing something with dogs or a more complicated latching mechanism but it wouldn't be quick to open.
 
The deck hatches on my 2005 25 are molded fiberglass and appear to have been made by the factory. They are about 10 1/2" X 23", have two hinges on the aft side and a single latch in the center on the forward side. There is a recessed area around the perimeter which the lid edge drops into and a raised lip with a black seal which the lid presses onto. There is no drain for water or debris to drain from the recess. If the seal is not tight then water can drain down into the bilge area where the waste tank is.

One possibility that would/could help would be to install a new seal that would be 1/8" or so higher and give a tighter seal. Even if you replaced the fiberglass hatch door with aluminum or other stronger non flexing material you would still have the seal and no drain from the recessed area to deal with. I don't appear to have any flexing problem with mine and minimal leaking into the bilge at this point.
HERE
HERE

Above are links to two pictures in my album of the hatches. My apologies for the second pictures attitude. I can't seem to rotate it and sve it that way.
 
I couldn 't find the hatch pictures on the Anna Leigh. Could you give more directions? Where did you find the better gasket?
 
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