Lazarette

[Runaround]

Hello all, Just a little pearl of wisdom that was passed on to me by John of Chatanooga this past weekend at our Central Gulf get together. We were discussing getting in the lazarette for different things like battery maintenance, transmission oil changes, bilge scrubbing, etc. All of which I had been doing recently and John says "Ya' know if that hatch flops down, your stuck" He's right! The latch is spring loaded and will lock you in. I'm going to rig a preventer everytime I go in from now on.

[Russell]

Hello all, Just a little pearl of wisdom that was passed on to me by John of Chatanooga this past weekend at our Central Gulf get together. We were discussing getting in the lazarette for different things like battery maintenance, transmission oil changes, bilge scrubbing, etc. All of which I had been doing recently and John says "Ya' know if that hatch flops down, your stuck" He's right! The latch is spring loaded and will lock you in. I'm going to rig a preventer everytime I go in from now on.

I have always done this, a bit of line taken from the latch to a cleat or winch to prevent the top from closing. I have heard horror stories of people getting stuck!

[Steve Laume]

If the springs break or you tear them out, the latches will open. They are there to keep the hatches closed but it you are in those kind of conditions I think you would know. In that case I have small lines permanently rigged to the latches. They are short small lines with a clip on the end. The clip just normally hangs down. If I was to be worried about the covers opening in bad conditions, I just clip through the latch. When I want to get into a locker I clip it to the life line, pretty much all the time. Forget about getting stuck, you don't want a finger chopped off, Steve.

[tjr818]

Once again I'll refer to the movie "The Bridge Over The River Kwai".

That little box in the direct sun, Ouch

I try not to go into the lockers or lazarette without a crew mate near by. I don't want to become the next Floyd Collins.