Sunday, March 16, 2008

A vacation escape?

Well after finishing up with getting the engine out of the boat my girlfriend had arranged a vacation for us. We would be chartering a 47 foot Lagoon catamaran out of Belize City. After a summer on spent on the mooring and a November in the boatyard I was ready for some warm water sailing. As we got settled into our cabin I noticed this hatch. It is not for scenic viewing it is an escape hatch in case the boat flips over. Watch the video and you can almost feel the rage of the sea trying to get into the cabin and you will understand why I like monohulls.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I sail a monohull, but I think it is kind of silly to say you don't like Cats because of that hatch. If you don't like the escape hatch, they are not required, can be removed, or replaced with a solid aluminum dogged down hatch that is stronger then the surrounding fiberglass.

Anonymous said...

that hatch is a godsend if your suddenly capsized by a gale/wave combo as has happened to many cat sailers allready..

Anonymous said...

oh. yea. just dont open that hatch if your capcized unless ready to abandon ship as once you open it you let out the air keeping you afloat

Capt. Mike said...

While I understand the hatches are there to help in the event of a capsize. I also think they can be vulnerable to some heavy debris like a tree trunk etc... sliding along the hull in a heavy sea that could smash it off the hull before the crew can say "What the..." I've been on other cats that had the hatches located higher that this one.

Anonymous said...

showed this video to a friend with no sailing experiance and she said it gave her the heeby-jeebies,,suppose your right about that tree sliding along the hull and wiping it off leaving a 2x2ft hole in the hull the bilge pumps cant handle,,never thought of that at all,,hot greatest design i suppose with hatch that low,cheers