The Yanmar 3 ym and associated transmission and stuffing box are accessible only to a small individual, very small, with the strength of Hercules and blessed with many double joints.
I squeezed in the port lazarette hoping i wouldn’t need the jaws of life to get me out.
I would like to install a hatch in my cockpit floor to improve engine access. Has anyone else done or considered this?
Roger Peebles
Tranquility 30C
Port Aransas, TX
The 33s apparently come with a hatch which is pretty much the entire cockpit floor forward of the binnacle. In one boat that I looked at this provided very convenient engine access. In mine it has been bolted down and covered with the teak grating, so is useless. I sometimes consider reversing that. Like, every time I have to do anything to the aft end of the engine.
I’m so envious maybe I’ll try the whole floor lifting off! If you open at some point send some pictures!
As for myself I would rather have a continuous surface in the area of the cockpit regardless of if heavy water is expected or not. You have a high combing and a rise to the companion way hatch. Two drains to aft to drain the water from the tub. I don’t expect to encounter such a time but you never know.
Brian Cayer
Spirit~Wind
N30U 419
Westbrook Ct.
Brian, where is the cockpit hatch hinged and does the entire floor fwd of binnacle open? Do you have a picture you could send? Thanks, Roger
I have actually looked at the hatch more from below than from above, so my memory might not be exact. But picture this: there is a gutter that runs around the entire cockpit with the cockpit drains at the two aft corners. There is also a section of the gutter that runs across the cockpit just ahead of the binnacle. So the entire gutter is like a squared off figure 8. The smaller loop of the figure 8 has the binnacle and the poop deck (where you stand at the helm, not where you poop!) And the larger loop of the figure 8 (between the binnacle and the companionway) is almost entirely the hatch cover.
I have a grating in my cockpit and the hatch is bolted down, so I have no photos and haven’t looked at it very closely. It is bolted in all four corners (and possibly in the center of the two longer sides) and I don’t recall seeing any hinges. I looked at the other NS33 here in San Diego back in 2022 and it also had this hatch, but it was unobstructed and operable. It was used during the surveys and I, like you, am envious. I don’t remember for sure, but I don’t think it was hinged. I vaguely remember it having some sort of pop-up twist levers to open the four corners and it was lifted off, but after three years I could be confusing it with something else I’ve seen.
I will try to get you photos or a video one of the next times that I’m at the boat. Next week I am having the mast pulled out for some repairs and maintenance. I also have some health issues going on which is distracting my attention and taking a lot of time. Between those two things you may need to remind me. Please don’t be shy about doing so! I promise I will feel worse about forgetting it than you will about bugging me. 