Sometimes when I am anchored and it rains, I have to partially close
the forward hatch to keep it out. If it blows, i have to close it
entirely since it faces forward and rain blows in. Here in FL, we
need the ventilation. There are rain covers for hatches, but thye
require that you get up (at 3:00 am), go on deck and rig up various
lines, worse than useless. An umbrella over the hatch can work except
it sits directly on the hatch reducing ventilation to nearly nil. I
got one of those big plastic glue clamps from Lowes to attach the
umbrella to the hatch lip so I could adjust its height but there is no
suitable verticle lip for the clamp, Hmmmmm..........

So..... I got two pieces of 1" PVC pipe long enough to traverse the
hatch and extend 2" on either end. I drilled a hole in th center big
enough for a 1/4-20 eyebolt thread. I then put the eyebolt in a vise
and cut away part of the eye so the umbrella shaft could slip into it.
I used a wing nut on the eyebolt.
In use, you push the closed umbrella through the hatch, open it, put
the first pvc with eyebolt above the hatch and the second below,
adjust the height of the shaft through the eyes and tighten the
wingnuts. You can now easily adjust the umbrella to any height.
Looks silly, works great.

Even better, it works on the companionway too. I do not have a dodger
and whenever it rains this is a problem. Not anymore.

Next step, get a piece of nylon screen, weight the edges, cut a slit
with velcro on the edges so the umbrella shaft can go into the slit
and now you have a bugscreen/hatch umbrella.

Why not just switch the hatch around so it hinges on the forward edge?
Ours can be hinged either way. I even know some people who can switch
the hinges from inside.

(Parallax) wrote:

Sometimes when I am anchored and it rains, I have to partially close
the forward hatch to keep it out. If it blows, i have to close it
entirely since it faces forward and rain blows in. Here in FL, we
need the ventilation. There are rain covers for hatches, but thye
require that you get up (at 3:00 am), go on deck and rig up various
lines, worse than useless. An umbrella over the hatch can work except
it sits directly on the hatch reducing ventilation to nearly nil. I
got one of those big plastic glue clamps from Lowes to attach the
umbrella to the hatch lip so I could adjust its height but there is no
suitable verticle lip for the clamp, Hmmmmm..........

So..... I got two pieces of 1" PVC pipe long enough to traverse the
hatch and extend 2" on either end. I drilled a hole in th center big
enough for a 1/4-20 eyebolt thread. I then put the eyebolt in a vise
and cut away part of the eye so the umbrella shaft could slip into it.
I used a wing nut on the eyebolt.
In use, you push the closed umbrella through the hatch, open it, put
the first pvc with eyebolt above the hatch and the second below,
adjust the height of the shaft through the eyes and tighten the
wingnuts. You can now easily adjust the umbrella to any height.
Looks silly, works great.

Even better, it works on the companionway too. I do not have a dodger
and whenever it rains this is a problem. Not anymore.

Next step, get a piece of nylon screen, weight the edges, cut a slit
with velcro on the edges so the umbrella shaft can go into the slit
and now you have a bugscreen/hatch umbrella.

grandma Rosalie