Knockdown

[mike]

Last year while transiting the East Coast, we suffered a knockdown from a rouge
wave. We survived just fine, but the contents of 5 lockers spilled into the main
cabin. We thought we had secured them very well, but still the question of how to properly secure lockers needs to be answered.

LaVida has the traditional finger hole/spring loaded closure, which tripped loose, despite our best efforts to clear the insides against just such an occurrence, and allowed the lockers to spill their contents all over the deck.

Has anyone found an alternative solution to securing these types of locker doors?
Traditional methods of closure (i.e. bolting something substantial on the outside) will disfigure the wonderful woodwork we have below, not to mention the clothing catching aspects of the apparatus.

The locker doors are too thin to imbed a flush mount lock and other solutions just don't seem to be appropriate.

I have been thinking of some kind of apparatus that would consist of a strong back inside the locker. It would have some sort of interior mounting to hold it in place while closing the locker door with a rod of non-marring material sticking through the finger hole and threading into the strongback. It would have a coarse thread and nylon washer attached on the outside to hold the locker door in place. Has anyone
done anything similar to these thoughts?

We are headed into the dreaded Gulf of St. Lawrence and down the East Coast this spring and would like to know our locker closure systems are secure before departure.

Thanks in advance,
Mike
LaVida
CD - 33

Also posted on the Cape Dory List




lavida@seascan.com

[Chris Scheck]

Maybe you don't need quite such a contraption. What if you attached a loop of shock cord inside the cabinet near the existing latch? Then, when you need the extra security, pass the loop of shock cord through the finger hole as you are closing the door. Put a clothespin or a pencil or something like that through the loop and let the shock cord help pull the door closed. You just need to experiment a little to find the right size shock cord to get the proper tension. I did something like this to hold my cockpit hatches in the up position so they don't fall and hit me in the head when I'm leaning into the sail locker.

Chris Scheck
RAGTIME CD33
Newport



cscheck@aol.com