hatch boards

[Bob23]

Billy:
   JB is exactly correct. My boards (this year) are exterior plywood painted with Interlux Brightsides Bristol Beige. The cleat is clear white oak, varnished. Who knows what next years boards are gonna be like. I still have the original teak boards that came with the boat...in need of varnishing.
Bob23

[Citroen/Dave]

I am copying a solution to the hatch board problem I used on my last boat, a Rhodes, Picnic 17.  The lower half board has two 45 +/- degree cuts to make a peak along the middle of the top edge. It has a bulkhead compass mounted in it, facing in at night so that I can read wind shifts or tide shifts on the compass from the bunk, and turned around facing outside for sailing navigation.  [The "half way" cut could just as easily be a 1/3 and 2/3 cut for more ventilation.]

A second thinner half board is made out of a sheet of clear plastic; it rides on the aft 45 degree cut. This makes a rainproof portal to the world with the sliding hatch closed.

A third thin half board "frame" has a no-see-um screen in the middle of it for warm evenings. The bottom edge has one 45 degree cut and it rides on the forward 45 degree cut of the lower board. The top has some foam-rubber door seal to hit the sliding hatch to keep the tiny varmints out. [I use no-see-um screens taped over the forward vent and the open lazarret. I have some "pretty good" painters tape that comes off with no problems to hold the those screens in place. I also have a battery powered fan for warm nights. ]  The sheet plastic board can be dropped in place, aft the screen, during a rain with or without the screened half board, if night time access to storage is a problem for the screened half board.

I lock and store the boat with a full board and take that board with me if I think the sailing will be airy.  Of course I could use another full thickness half board for the top with a grove along the bottom edge to seal against the 45 degree cuts of the bottom half board. I lake and river sail so compass navigation is not a requirement, just good practice, for now.  Coastal sailing will likely have me make a full board with a compass mounted for ultimate heavy weather sailing.

On my previous boat, boards and half boards except the one with a compass stored flat under the bunk cushions until needed.  The half board with compass stored locked up and sun protected on top of a bunk cushion.

My two cents worth,
Dave