Rear Hatch

This morning I managed to fit the rear hatch to Waiouru.  It is quite heavy which had me struggling to both hold and align it onto the cabin rails.  The brass “slides” have yet to be fitted so the current setup is only temporary.  However it does make the rear end of the cabin weatherproof.  The doors still need to be welded in place so I’ve left the temporary timber door in-situ. 

Unlike the hatch cover on Ufton, the hatch on Waiouru has to be lifted slightly to overlap the rear doors.  I actually like this feature as I believe it improves the level of security.  I also like the way the boatyard fits the lock to the rear door.  They use a mortice deadlock.

The main portion of the lock is rebated into the door with the tongue facing vertically towards the underside of the hatch.  The striker plate is fitted to the timber lining of the hatch cover.  Being a deadlock the tongue can only be moved using the key.  This will prevent the user from accidentally locking themselves out of the boat.  Unlike a hasp and staple setup, there is no obvious indicator to show whether the boat is secured. 

I had considered requesting a “Yale” style deadlock be fitted but then thought it might be more susceptible to freezing in winter.

At midday I had a telephone call from Doug (the grit blasting contractor) about his availability to remove the Intertuf black from Waiouru.  As a result of our conversation he is planning to come next Thursday morning.  Hopefully he will have completed the removal of the blacking by 12.00 noon giving Jan and I fours hours in which to cover the bare steel with the two pack epoxy blacking.

I also had a brief discussion with Andy (boatyard manager) who was off to phone the spray foam contractor about a firm date to complete the spray foam repairs to Waiouru.

Finally, during a late afternoon conversation with Paul (boater behind us), he mentioned he was thinking of topping up his water tank as the weather forecast for the next seven days looked very cold and the wharf water pipes might freeze.  This seemed a very sensible observation so we both filled our water tanks.