lazarette Modifications

I have been thinking that the access to my lazarette is very tight, with the hatch located in the middle of the aft deck.

There is a massive amount of room under the aft deck(well in my boat anyway), in an IG there is a clear run from Port to starboard, but accessing all the stuff you put in there can become a bit of a nightmare.

Has anyone any suggestions how to best utilise this area. I have thought about cutting in two more hatches either side of the existing one, but that seems a pretty major undertaking.

Any suggestions appreciated.

Cheers,

Andy

Heavy duty plastic totes are handy for organizing and accessing items in snug storage areas. Tend to slide easy on most surfaces too.

My Europa no aft cabin version with more cockpit space, has two outward opening lazarrette hatches,more access I think. I recall seeing a similar space with dividers fitted each side of a gap along the centre line. It would certainly tidy up the mess that develops down there. Adding access hatches would be a big call.

CPseudonym said:

Heavy duty plastic totes are handy for organizing and accessing items in snug storage areas. Tend to slide easy on most surfaces too.

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Very timely!! I just did this today after reading a thread here about the risk of oil spills from the storage of spares. I pulled all my ER/lazarette gear and dumped what I didn't need and brought home stuff I rarely need like a swimstep fender. I put all my lines into the milk crates and shifted my fluids, hoses and funnels to bins. Now if something leaks, it'll be contained. An the bins make it all much easier to move around and organize.

We also have many spares in totes. To make it easier to grab we have lanyards attached to them all so we can just pull on the lanyard to get the tote to within reach. Works pretty well.

Andy G said:

I have thought about cutting in two more hatches either side of the existing one, but that seems a pretty major undertaking.

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Besides being a maor undertaking it also creates the potenetial for [more] leaks. Our GB, like most of them, has three hatches in the aft deck which, when all three are opened and the center one removed makes a great access hole into the lazarette.

But.... despite the gutter around the edge of the opening, water can still leak down between the outboard and center hatches. Newer GBs have a removeable gutter under this joint but on our boat, the water simply dripped down into the bilge.

I went a long way toward solving this by adding bronze strips to the outside edges of the center hatch, but I still need to put a strip of electrical tape over the crack between the adjacent bronze strips to do a really good job of keeping the water out.

Our lazarette is completely open; it's a clear shot from the top all the way to the bottom of the boat. This makes easy access to the rudder posts and steering gear, but it also makes it impossible to stow anything other than in the hard-to-reach port end of the lazarette.

A solution that might work for your boat, too, would be to build a set of removable platforms--- maybe teak grating like the shower grate in our boat--- that sat up above the steering gear and went from one side of the lazarette to the other. This would provide a lot of storage space for lines, water tank fill hoses, fenders, etc., but it would all be easily removeable for access to the steering gear underneath.

Whoever designed gutters made out of wood around lazarettes deserves to be suspended by sensitive body parts. The gutters clog and rot and rarely fall and drain properly. I was ready to remake them out of metal channel on the previous boat but sold it, gave the buyer the materials.
Cutting additional hatches would require a deal of re-construction under the deck to maintain support, strength and integrity, major job. Easier to squeeze in via the existing hatch.

BruceK said:

Whoever designed gutters made out of wood around lazarettes deserves to be suspended by sensitive body parts. The gutters clog and rot and rarely fall and drain properly. I was ready to remake them out of metal channel on the previous boat but sold it, gave the buyer the materials.
Cutting additional hatches would require a deal of re-construction under the deck to maintain support, strength and integrity, major job. Easier to squeeze in via the existing hatch.

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I'm rebuilding my lazarette hatch right now because this very reason . My gutters din't work very well and it rotted out all the underside framework of the opening . I've tried to figure out how to do the gutter thing and gave up . I' m building a raised hatch instead of flush . Flush is nice and clean but I'm not smart enough to build one that will work . I know we will stump our toe a few times getting used to it . For me it just made more sense to keep the water out instead of letting it in and then trying to drain it out of the gutters .

Andy G let us know what you come up with . Good luck with your project .

I either had not fully figured it out or forget what I figured. I had bought some aluminum U channel. I think the challenge was screwing the channel on, maybe with holes in the outer U vertical to insert a screwdriver, to be filled later. Mitered corners to be joined/sealed with Sika, drain tubes to be inserted in the bottom of channel,Sika as adhesive/sealant. Something like that.

'U ' channels should have worked but maybe welding on mounting ears to suit and using those to screw to the deck underside would have worked. That way the only sealing needed would be at the corners.
Even those corners could have been welded once the fitting was done.

Then mount the drains. I do have gutters around my hatch but I had to modify a through hull so it sat flush in the gutter bottom.

Similar could have been done with the alum., maybe even welding in a lower plate for the through hull fitting to sit in so the through hull top was level or below the gutter bottom. That way almost no water would be retained.

I can certainly identify with the lazarette drain issues, no sooner clean out the drain holes and they silt up again.

One thing though I do regularly is to pack grease on my steering cables and quadrant, as in wet weather there is a constant drip of water from the Lazarette gutter.

I have taken heed of the advise & warnings regarding adding new deck openings and will look out for those trusty Totes(whatever they are). As the boat has a full width ply floor about 3' below the aft deck, it should be doable. As ever it's all about organisation.

Andy,
My Willard has no access to the laz from the aft cockpit. There is a "hold" in between the engine compartment and the laz. The hold is the width of the boat (10.5') and about 5' long and high enough to crawl around in. The access to the laz is through the aft bulkhead of the hold and is plenty big enough to crawl through. I hope the two 50 gal water tanks in the laz will fit through the bulkhead access hole.

I hate crawling around down there but every time I have that though I think of the other Willard 30' models (4 of them) that don't have the hold and wonder where they store their stuff???

Andy is there a possibility of creating an access port or hole through the fwd bulkhead in the laz? Or since you have a center access deck hatch perhaps two (one on each side) in the bulkhead that would allow access to the ends of the laz. You probably have exhaust and other stuff that you'll need to work around but it may be a better option than making more holes in the deck. Even making an access hole in one side may solve over half of the problem. You could be selective in what was put in the side of the laz where access was most difficult.

Two thumbs up on totes. We make holes in the upper edge of the totes and tie them all together so when Willy rolls a lot (she does) things aren't scrambled. I have oil and many other fluids in one tote, anchors in another, canned goods, spare line, water hoses .. ect ect Totes are great and ours are not only tied together but tied to the fwd bulkhead as well. Let'er roll.