 | The Lagoon 380 uses flush latches to lock access to the engines and one of the forward lockers. They have worked well and you can't stub your toes against them. Unfortunately salt water gradually blocks the locking mechanism. Last month, after a major storm, the boat took a lot of water over the stern and it became impossible to unlock the starboard engine hatch. It was doubly unfortunate because some water had penetrated the engine compartments (I still haven't worked out exactly how), so I needed acess to drain and clean up. Out of desparation, I ended up drilling out the lock. |
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Cleaning up the water proved relatively easy and no damage was done, but of course I needed to replace the lock. I ordered a new lock from the local Beneteau agent, Vicsail. They came back with a nifty improvement. The replacement lock has an optional soft plastic "boot" which stops water geting into the lock. I have ordered boots for the other locks and that should save us from further problems. |
October 2003 Archives
Engine hatch locking
Slow-down
Just in case anyone is wondering about the slow down in entries here, job commitments have meant that I am spending little time in Australia between now and Christmas. While I am currently in Australia, other family commitments mean that Joy and I won't be joining the club cruise to Sydney this coming weekend. But we will be sure to sneak out on Te Moana for a couple of days this week or next.
While I'm away from Australia, I'll put some energy in getting the CoastalCruising list up and running. There are also a few remaining puzzles about Te Moana which I may discuss here over the coming months.
same problem...where can I get the soft plastic "boot"?
I bought it from my local Beneteau/Lagoon agent in Australia, Vicsail. http://www.vicsail.com/contact.html