Hatch runners

[JaesGlas]

So I'm fitting out my widebeam and am looking for advice as the the difference between flat and channel hatch runners.  Is one type better, or more suitable to the other?  Or does it just come down to cost and preference?  Thanks in advance from a newbie!

[MtB]

Welcome to the forum.

 

Could you expand on your question please? With photos perhaps?

 

I've been boating for 43 years now and don't know what you mean!

 

 

 

[Jen-in-Wellies]

1 hour ago, JaesGlas said:

So I'm fitting out my widebeam and am looking for advice as the the difference between flat and channel hatch runners.  Is one type better, or more suitable to the other?  Or does it just come down to cost and preference?  Thanks in advance from a newbie!

Are we talking about the difference between these and these?

[JaesGlas]

Aye, they're the ones!

23 minutes ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

Welcome to the forum.

 

Could you expand on your question please? With photos perhaps?

 

I've been boating for 43 years now and don't know what you mean!

 

 

 

 

 

These are the two types I've seen.

 

https://aquafax.co.uk/product/n-73250-brass-hatch-runner-kit-flat

 

https://aquafax.co.uk/product/n-73251-brass-hatch-runner-kit-channel

[Jen-in-Wellies]

3 minutes ago, JaesGlas said:

Aye, they're the ones!

My boat has the channel ones. With a brass bearing surface on the side, as well as the top, you can push the hatch off axis and it will still slide happily. I suspect that the flat ones may graunch on steel if the hatch is not pushed exactly in line and on the centre. They need to be regularly lubricated, or the brass on brass bearing surfaces don't run easily. If oiled, the hatch could be opened with one finger. I found the oil washed off easily. Tried grease, didn't work. Didn't try candle wax, which might have worked better. Don't know. I suspect the flat bearings, with the wider surface might need less regular lubrication.

In the end, I replaced the brass bearings with replicas made from ultra high molecular weight polyethylene. A slippy plastic, almost as slippery as PTFE, but safer to machine. A friend machined them for me. These don't need any oil. Not as easy to push as freshly oiled brass on brass, but manageable and zero maintenance.

I suspect for the channel ones to work effectively the runners and hatch need to be parallel to each other to within a mm or two at most over their entire length. This is something I'd check first before making a decision. The flat bearings, being wider would have more tolerance to a bit of sloppy steel fabrication.

 

Jen

[Bee]

£64.90!!!.  Some brass strip and properly countersunk screws will do the job. £64.90!!! B***** hell grumble grumble mutter mutter back in my day etc. etc.

[magnetman]

Another option is to use nylon strips. 

[Chewbacka]

The channel type push onto the steel 'support' that the hatch runs on with the sliders keeping the channel in place, but this requires an edge to 'clip' on to.  If your steel runners don't have an edge to clip onto then you need the flat strip which must be fixed in place.  So depends on the design of your hatch.

[Jen-in-Wellies]

1 hour ago, Bee said:

£64.90!!!.  Some brass strip and properly countersunk screws will do the job. £64.90!!! B***** hell grumble grumble mutter mutter back in my day etc. etc.

Further to this. There are lots of ways of doing hatch runners other than the expensive commercial offerings. The smaller and lighter the hatch, generally, the less sophisticated they need be. Bigger, heavier hatches need something more low friction to make opening them possible without forearms like Popeye. I've not been that impressed with the channel type fitted on my boat, as shown by the modifications I've made, detailed in my earlier post. If I was setting one up from scratch it would be a home made effort, rather than one of the ones Midland SwinChandlers sell.

 

Jen

[Guest]

Loads of different ways...

 

My newer boat has a little (some kind of plastic?) wheel at each side of the hatch it rolls along on. My older one has flat brass. One of the hatches I can almost never open in damp weather (I rely on friendly passers by to cruise!) but it has nothing to do with the brass - is just that that wood has been painted a bit thick for when it swells with damp air. I candle wax the brass on both the opening and only-just-opening hatches on the older boat. I've not yet worked out what, if anything, to do with the wheels.

If I was choosing I'd probably have a light weight flip top hatch with some kind of rubbery stops on to to prevent me thumping it down too hard. Wouldn't go for the hydraulic thingys as just another thing to malfunction/leak another kind of fluid.

Edited February 2, 2020 by TheMenagerieAfloat

[David Mack]

Steel flip top hatches collect the rain when they are open, and when you close them the water empties into the boat! DAMHIKT.

[MtB]

13 hours ago, Jen-in-Wellies said:

My boat has the channel ones. With a brass bearing surface on the side, as well as the top, you can push the hatch off axis and it will still slide happily.

 

Every day is a skool day. I've never seen a sliding hatch with this 'peg and channel' arrangement. What a good idea, thanks!

 

 

 

 

[robtheplod]

I've got flat brass ones and have not lubricated them since getting the boat as not sure what to use...… a bit of light oil ok?

Edited February 3, 2020 by robtheplod

[Guest]

6 minutes ago, robtheplod said:

I've got flat brass ones and have not lubricated them since getting the boat as not sure what to use...… a bit of light oil ok?

Candle wax is good and less messy. Best use for a tea light on a boat IMHO!

 

My runners (for and aft hatches on the older boat) are slide-able by a small child who can barely reach them with just that - since about 1986! (The overly painted wood only causes an inch or so of sticking on the stern hatch and then it gliiiiides like the front one).

[robtheplod]

15 minutes ago, TheMenagerieAfloat said:

Candle wax is good and less messy. Best use for a tea light on a boat IMHO!

 

My runners (for and aft hatches on the older boat) are slide-able by a small child who can barely reach them with just that - since about 1986! (The overly painted wood only causes an inch or so of sticking on the stern hatch and then it gliiiiides like the front one).

fab thanks for that!

[Proper Charlie]

36 minutes ago, TheMenagerieAfloat said:

Candle wax is good and less messy. Best use for a tea light on a boat IMHO!

 

My runners (for and aft hatches on the older boat) are slide-able by a small child who can barely reach them with just that - since about 1986! (The overly painted wood only causes an inch or so of sticking on the stern hatch and then it gliiiiides like the front one).

Thanks from me also.

[JaesGlas]

Thanks for all your help folks . Much appreciated.