Water leak in hull- forces winter projects: advice needed

I'm going to attempt to put a hatch for storage in our V berth also. Has anyone had a problem with hatches ( which I assume are somewhat higher ) making the bunk mattress less comfortable? Probably not an issue but curious.
Alan
 
My boat came with the hatches for the compartments under the v-berth. The hatches are the same as used for the lazarettes on the back of the boat for the battery compartment(s). We do notice them under the factory mattress pad when sleeping.

The hatches for the side compartments are the same size as the battery covers. The one for the center (front) compartment is much larger. This spring I plan to change out the smaller hatches for larger ones to make access to the side compartments easier.
 
Keelguard: I put some on my previous SeaRay, but as advertised, it didn't work so good with rollers. I thought about putting it on the C-Dory, but while my trailer is bunk, I have one bow roller that I think would present a problem when loading or launching the boat. Hatches: I cut out the compartments in the V Berth area, but as a few others have done, I just used the cutouts as covers and very happy with how that works out. (Also allows one to access the compartment without picking the cushion up very far. If you know where something is at, you can just reach your arm in under the cushion, remove the cover and reach in. Colby
 
Simplicity":10ynk8q0 said:
I'm going to attempt to put a hatch for storage in our V berth also. Has anyone had a problem with hatches ( which I assume are somewhat higher ) making the bunk mattress less comfortable? Probably not an issue but curious.
Alan
Click to expand...

Don't even know they are there....
 
When I ordered our 22', I requested that the brass stem guard not be installed. Les at EQ Marine then installed the Keelguard. There has been no problem with the Keelguard and our roller trailer.
 
I was surprised to see my year old thread pop up again. I figure I could use this as a 1 year update:

Keelguard: The installation of the keelguard was quite easy and it remains attached perfectly. I sealed the edges with 4200, which others on the HullTruth recommended. I am not sure if this was necessary, but based on the scratches on it, I have hit a number of things in our many crossings to Catalina. Nothing major, luckily, but there is some piece of mind that there is a piece of rubber up there. We keep the boat in the water, so I like the fact that I no longer have screws below the water line.

Hatches: By far the single biggest improvement we have made to the boat. The drawers that I created for the cabinets are a close second, but the hatches allow us to keep all of our extra anchors, sleeping bags, extra lifejackets, etc. up and out of the way. In conjunction with the organization of the drawers, the boat is incredibly organized and we have spent about 50 nights at Catalina this year since the upgrades. You can not feel the hatches through the mattress pads. This might be aided by the fact that I added 1.5 inch memory foam to the top of the pads when I reupholstered them.

If you are thinking of cutting in v-berth hatches, do it. It is a dirty job, but totally worth the effort if you spend lots of time aboard your C-Dory.

-Tim
CPelican
 
Tim,

I always enjoy reading follow-up - thanks for posting it.

I have a question on your trailer set up vis-a-vis the Keel Gard. I see that both they and Keel Shield say not to use the product where a trailer roller will contact it. This makes sense, as it would be a point load. What I don't know is whether I could "get away with" the one roller I installed (it's a bunk trailer) which is right at the curve where the bow goes from stem to hull. This doesn't really support any weight to speak of (mostly it keeps the bow from "thinking about" going down when I tighten the supplemental bow attachments for trailering), but... it would contact the strip.

Long intro to ask whether you have any type of roller (even minimal weight bearing) contacting the Keel Gard?

Good to hear all your mods turned out so well :thup Bow hatches and some drawers in the cabin are both on my list.

Sunbeam
 
If you are thinking of cutting in v-berth hatches, do it. It is a dirty job, but totally worth the effort if you spend lots of time aboard your C-Dory.

-Tim
CPelican[/quote]
I did the cut today and got all the foam out. Of course in my case they did a perfect job of filling all the space with foam. You're right though, it's quite a lot of extra storage space and I'm glad I did it.
Alan
 
Sunbeam":20qe8n5a said:
Tim,

I always enjoy reading follow-up - thanks for posting it.

I have a question on your trailer set up vis-a-vis the Keel Gard. I see that both they and Keel Shield say not to use the product where a trailer roller will contact it. This makes sense, as it would be a point load. What I don't know is whether I could "get away with" the one roller I installed (it's a bunk trailer) which is right at the curve where the bow goes from stem to hull. This doesn't really support any weight to speak of (mostly it keeps the bow from "thinking about" going down when I tighten the supplemental bow attachments for trailering), but... it would contact the strip.

Long intro to ask whether you have any type of roller (even minimal weight bearing) contacting the Keel Gard?


Sunbeam
Click to expand...
Sunbeam-
My trailer has two rollers, a lower roller that guides the boat in and then the upper bow roller that the nose of the bow rests on (I am fairly certain that I am not getting the terms right here). Last year when I did the modifications, I also had the trailer brakes completely replaced, since the trailer had no working brakes when I bought it. The trailer mechanic said that the lower roller is not meant to support any weight and that it should be barely touching the boat when the boat is sitting properly on the trailer. He made the adjustment so that the keel guard is not touching the roller.
Since that time I have only had the boat on a trailer once, to have the engine serviced. So, I am probably not the best example for how it will hold up on a trailer, but I do dive under the boat most weekends and I can attest to the fact that the Keelguard is nicely stuck to the bottom and likely has not plans of coming off.
 
I've heard the same thing about the bow roller...but that is with the boat at rest. However, there is going to be some weight of the boat on that roller during launching and loading, depending upon how steep the launch ramp is and how far down you back your trailer. I believe that is what the purpose of the roller is for. (That is, to help guide the boat on.) Initially my bunk trailer just had a piece of rubber there across the crossbeam and even that showed wear before I added the roller.
 
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