Has anyone figured out what to do with the stern day hatch to keep small items accessible while seated in the cockpit [keep items from moving around the entire stern storage area].
Has anyone attached a bag or plastic container that securely fits in the rim of the hatch and is the right height?
Suggestions welcomed.
marketing
you're better off configuring the cockpit to hold those items. The "day hatch" on the Tsunami boats is purely a marketing device to make it look like a "sea kayak with two big hatches and a day hatch". you might consider getting a round tupperware container and bolt it to the underside of the hatch.
An Underdeck Bag…
… is way more useful for small items.
wall
you can install a foam wall where one should be for a day compartment.
Confluence should have an accessory kit soon but for immediate results aldercreek.com has the pattern and can send you the stuff.
steve
especially for a big cockpit
I put small pan head screws through the deck of a Chatham 16 to hold a bag. They aren’t a problem with parallel foredeck bungies covering them.
Two kinds of underdeck bags I’ve used are heavy mesh. One has a foam plastic backing and was meant to be somekind of accessory bag for backpacks,I think EMS sold it. It’s about 2"x5"x10" with a draw string closure. I replaced the string with 1/8" bungie and it’s easy to open/close. I like the mesh bags because things inside it dry out and it won’t collect moldy things.
REI has some cheap heavy mesh bags that could be configured with a rectangular piece of plastic to keep it from hanging down but they aren’t as easy to open/close as the EMS accessory bag I bought five yrs ago.
My solution for this problem…
I have a WS T-140 and it has a rear “day” hatch. My day hatch is a six(6) inch circular hatch with the standard lipped tupperware WS cover. From looking at the Tsunami, it appears that this is the same hatch usd for the rear day hatch. I had the saem problem with the hatch just opening to the bowels of the hull and stuff would go everywhere. Here is what I did:
I went to my local paddling shop and was able to get an old six inch hatch cat bag from one of the WS boats in their rental fleet. It was old and ratty, but it was free. I removed the bag from the retainer ring. Then I took a nylon stuff sack from my camping stuff and stuck the neck up through the ring and folded it back over the edge. I poked a hole towards the top of the bag and threaded the hatch cover retatiner cord through it. Then I sewed it all together.
Now, when I stuff the sack into the hatch opening and seat the ring, I have a large seperate compartment to keep stuff in. It all stays together. I generally keep my water supply (2 liter soda bottles fit perfectly) and my propane bottels in this hatch. Also a compressible dry bag with raingear in it.
It was very easy to do and works great.
Hatch
Thanks for your suggestions.
Aldercreek
doesn't have a template for installing an extra bulkhead between the day and stern-hatch. I just called them. =(
Steve at Aldercreek was very helpful with all my questions (thanks, Steve), but said they don't have, and never did have, a template for that location on the Tsunami line. They do have a template for the bow bulkhead the the Pungo, though.
Flatpick, does anyone else you know of have a template available for sale, or do I have to make my own?? =(~
-T