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Ventilation Hatch in the Head?

Mitchell S Allen

Mitchell S Allen

Active Member
I'm considering a small vent hatch for the head on Sonata. Roughly 12x12" +/-

Has anyone installed something like this. Any real world feedback? If so, what did you do to trim it out inside? Installation recommendations, etc.?
Thanks,
Mitchell
 
I have not yet don e this, but thought about it, Three things: 1) you will have to cut through the head liner, of course. You can buy teak "L" strips to trim, I expect. My head port is trimmed that way. 2) A shipwright friend has been having major failure issues with Lewmar hatches in the last year. Lewmar sold the hatch division. The new firm started using a new adhesive to hold the plastic transparent hatch light to the aluminum. He started using a French hatch maker, the name of which I forget. (3) An alternative I have considered is a closable mushroom vent.
 
Hi Terry,
If I do this I'll most likely go with a Bomar hatch, at least similar to exsisting on Sonata. Pricey, but at least I'm not replacing all of them!
I too have considered a mushroom vent, or a solar vent. But have read some poorer reviews of the solar vents.
I'd like to be able to get some additional airflow a hatch might allow.

I'm going to re-bed the last leaking port light. The head. When I pulled it I found a void between the liner and cabin side. No wonder it's always leaked. No way to tighten it to the cabin. I'll fill it with Mahogany epoxied in or something when I reinstall. I'm assuming the same situation in the overhead.
Thank you,
Mitchell
 
I had installed two expensive Marinco solar vents in the hatches. I installed them a few days before my trip to Hawaii, and they leaked the whole way. Even closed, they dripped water. By the time we got there, the tiny motor had rusted in one, and the tiny on/off switch corroded in the other. After that I had to deal with fixing the hatches and replacing the acrylic lens.

For the few days they worked, they didn't move any air. I could see the fans spin, but not enough to move the lightest yarn held near it. I think a plain mushroom vent, the kind that work sort of like a mini dorade vent, would work better than a solar vent.
 
Well that's even worse than I had read Warren! Thank you for the real world experience. And sorry they didn't work. They certainly aren't even reasonably priced!
Mitchell
 
The original solar vents, maybe made by Nicro were very good. I had two for two decades and they never leaked. They finally gave up and I replaced them with the new Marinco. Ridiculous thing was they required a 1/4" or 3/8" increase in the hole size and have an extra long vent part that sticks down into the boat. I surrounded that with varnished wood. Mine have not leaked, but Warren's story is concerning. Warren, was it waves washing over the boat that caused leaks or just rain? I have Lewmar ocean hatches and do not know if I can easily replace the lens. I am out of time this year to build and install dorade boxes.
 
The front hatch was waves/blue water and that hatch failed first. The hatch under the boom was rain. It leaked much less but still failed quickly.
If i recall there was a weird way to close them by sliding the cylinder up. It didn't slide smoothly, and would not stay all the way up, but fell ever so slightly. Its been a few years so i don't remember exactly. But it always seemed a bad design.
The mushroom vents are resistant to water getting in even open like a dorade vent. And screw down for a tight seal if conditions are so bad that won't work.
 
I was sea trialing a brand new TransPac 52 years ago when I was lucky enough to work designing race boats. The first tack we did we all saw something go flying out of the corner of our eyes. It was the lid to cabin top hatch that was closed but not dogged. The jib sheet got under it and away it went. Since then I have been really careful on boats that have them and not drawn any hatches on the house top forward of the mast unless they are recessed.
 
I have a rule on Sonata that whenever the hatches are closed, they get latched snug. No exceptions. For that very reason as well as leaks
 
On Dana I have replace two forward solar vents, which were useless, with two 10" x 10" Lewmar hatches. When sailing they are closed and latched. When moored or anchored they are open and provide a steady air flow when the wind is there. This project was done years ago so I hope it was before Lewmar gave away the hatch business. I have never had a problem with them.

Jim
 

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Terry

That's good to know. Thanks. We do have rain shields on all our ports, so they stay open in the rain until it starts to blow sideways.

Jim
 
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