Hatch Board Storage

Over aboard s/v Cay of Sea, Rick addresses a problem most of us have:  what to do with the companionway hatch boards while under way?

In my continuing effort to de-clutter the quarter berth storage area, I asked my wife to build swash board storage pockets – and she did a wonderful job.  I keep the boards nicely varnished because I like the way it looks and because I used red oak – a rot-prone wood.  Keeping up with the varnish keeps them from warping and wards away any deterioration.  Red oak is a tough material with lots of strength, and it’s relatively inexpensive – that’s why I like it.  You can get it at Home Depot for not very much money, and it looks nice under varnish.  It serves well for about 15 percent of the cost of teak. But it doesn’t tolerate neglect.  So it is disheartening to sand and varnish, then carelessly stack them up to slide around in the quarter berth while not being used – therefore the pockets.  Here’s a photo of them with the boards inside.

Kind of a poor photo,
but perhaps you can see what it looks like.

The bottom pocket is folded towards the camera.  When the pockets are hung from the top edge it will hang flat.  I still need to install grommets along the top, then hang on the outboard side of the quarter berth with pad eyes and small stuff.  I will also tack down the bottom corners the same way, so when the boat is heeled on the port tack it won’t bang around.  The next photo shows the mounting area in the quarter berth.

Another poor photo.
The top of the pockets will mount along the upper
edge of the of the hull liner, beside and just abaft
the striped cushion in the photo.