by craig on Mon Aug 15, 2016 10:24 am
The drop boards don't leak on Titania. The companionway flange extends all around the opening, so water can't get into the cabin when it runs down the dropboards.
I made a mistake when building my companionway entrance - the hole in the cabin top is 2 inches too long (extending fore-aft), so when I made the companionway hood and sliding hatch, the sliding hatch wasn't long enough to completely enclose the cabin. I also wanted more visibility from the cockpit, so I removed the (relatively) tall companionway hood and made a low-profile sliding hatch that is long enough to cover the entire opening. The manual specifies a small piece of wood behind the latch clasp to force the hood to overhang the dropboards. I still had an issue with water "wicking" its way into the cabin somehow, so I made the overhang over an inch. When I was on Pocketship #1 at Okoumefest, I checked out the cabin with the dropboards installed. The overhang was not substantial there (it looked unchanged from the plans). I asked Geoff Kerr if he had heard of the hatch leaking, and he said he hadn't.
Titania, launched January 2015