How would you add a lock to the rear hatch/door?

[Thomas C King]

We've just bought a boat and (at least) one thing is missing, a lock on the rear doors/hatch. I've attached a photo, and I was just wondering what people on here would fit? The only thing I can think of is a regular lock on the doors, and a hook added to the hatch for a padlock. Is there a way to keep it secure with just one lock? Just interested in ideas and what other people have done or would do.

 

 

[Quattrodave]

Is the rear door the main entry / exit? I'm wondering if you can secure it from the inside at all? Padlocks aren't particularly secure, most can be opened quietly with 2 spanners in a few seconds.

 

[David Mack]

For safety you want a lock that can be opened from the inside, so you can always escape in the event of fire. 

[Thomas C King]

10 minutes ago, Quattrodave said:

Is the rear door the main entry / exit? I'm wondering if you can secure it from the inside at all? Padlocks aren't particularly secure, most can be opened quietly with 2 spanners in a few seconds.

 

There's a swan hatch in the middle of the boat, and a front entry. But yes, something that opens from the inside makes sense to me, I just don't know how to do it with a hatch and two doors...

[reg]

The only way I found to give a good solid lock was to use Garage Door Bolt locks. Like these

Garage Door Bolt locks

 

They take a bit of lining up but when done they make a very solid lock. 

One is mounted on the sliding hatch and goes into a hole drilled into the hatch runner. 

The other is mounted at the base of the door. 

 

It is important to make sure that they line up straight I made a wooden mounting block to fit them onto. Also I used some spring washers on the coach bolt to make it easier to fine adjust the lining up. 

Eta

Another advantage of these is they can be locked and unlocked from both the inside and outside. 

Edited April 11, 2020 by reg

[tehmarks]

On my old boat, the rear hatch was locked from the inside with a deadbolt through a hole in the hatch side and through the slide. The doors weren't able to e opened without lifting the hatch over them but were also locked with one of those flimsy brass bolts each into the steerer's step. I personally feel that locking from inside is the only secure sort of arrangement - it removes the ability of troublemakers to interfere directly with the lock, and only leaves them the possibility of vandalising the steelwork.

 

My current boat has a tiny external padlock hasp - but both the doors and hatch are wooden and flimsy anyway, in addition to wooden side doors and hatch with no locking method whatsoever, and wooden bow doors with an equally flimsy hasp. It's an arrangement which desperately needs altering - thank God for the lockdown and being permanently at home?

[system 4-50]

Would this and similar security issues be better placed in the members only area?

[pearley]

59 minutes ago, reg said:

The only way I found to give a good solid lock was to use Garage Door Bolt locks. Like these

Garage Door Bolt locks

 

They take a bit of lining up but when done they make a very solid lock. 

One is mounted on the sliding hatch and goes into a hole drilled into the hatch runner. 

The other is mounted at the base of the door. 

 

It is important to make sure that they line up straight I made a wooden mounting block to fit them onto. Also I used some spring washers on the coach bolt to make it easier to fine adjust the lining up. 

Eta

Another advantage of these is they can be locked and unlocked from both the inside and outside. 

That is the bolt we used. Our hatch just slides with no need to lift so the bolt shoots up to lock behind the steel lip of the hatch, the bolt being on the door that overlaps. 

[ditchcrawler]

1 hour ago, Thomas C King said:

We've just bought a boat and (at least) one thing is missing, a lock on the rear doors/hatch. I've attached a photo, and I was just wondering what people on here would fit? The only thing I can think of is a regular lock on the doors, and a hook added to the hatch for a padlock. Is there a way to keep it secure with just one lock? Just interested in ideas and what other people have done or would do.

 

 

It looks like a hole for a bolt th the end of the right hand slider to secure the hatch. I never lock my rear doos and slide while I am on the boat, it may be my only way out.

[dor]

98% of boats can be entered with the use of two spanners or a claw hammer in a couple of minutes.   For 1% just kick the window in. The other 1% are reasonably secure.  

Main thing is to make your boat more secure than your neighbour's.

[Richard T]

Two bolts on the slide going into holes drilled in the runners> Fit these so that you can turn the bolt through 90degrees so it can't be opened from outside. Then 4 bolts on the doors. If you do put a hasp and staple on the outside the hasp must go on the door and the staple on the slide. Otherwise the hasp can drop over the staple and you are locked in even if theres not a padlock.

The important thing is that in the event of a fire you need to be able to escape quickly. A boat does not have a high ceiling like a house does  act as a smoke resevoirso it becomes full of smoke very quickly.

We never lock doors when on board - we may put a bolt on if its windy to keep them shut.

If you have a side hatch with a slide or hinged lid a Brighton pattern sash window lock is  very effective. Something like this https://metalhardware.co.uk/heavy-brighton-fastener-mhwf096

[Detling]

May sound stupid but check that the hatch lid can't be lifted at the front, or the back, originally mine could be lifted at the back, which sort of defeated the locks on the door end.

[Ianws]

Ours is just secured from inside with spring loaded bolts, no lock. There is one on the inside at the bottom of the left hand door to stop it from opening. Then 2 bolts securing the 2 doors. Finally a 4th bolt at the top of the left door that holds the hatch in place.

[CLAN1]

We have two bolts at bottom of doors and use a strip of wood with holes in to release.Also have a alarm padlock

[WotEver]

Two interior sliding bolts to lock the hatch to the runners, two interior sliding bolts to lock the left hand door to the hatch and the floor, then a Yale type front door lock on the right hand door. Slam it to close it, unlock it from outside with a key and from inside by turning the knob. 

[TheBiscuits]

22 minutes ago, WotEver said:

Two interior sliding bolts to lock the hatch to the runners, two interior sliding bolts to lock the left hand door to the hatch and the floor, then a Yale type front door lock on the right hand door. Slam it to close it, unlock it from outside with a key and from inside by turning the knob. 

 

I have to say I much prefer a door where you need the key to lock it from the outside.

 

I'm not saying why, but it may have a little something to do with experience ...

[ditchcrawler]

1 minute ago, TheBiscuits said:

 

I have to say I much prefer a door where you need the key to lock it from the outside.

 

I'm not saying why, but it may have a little something to do with experience ...

Been there and done that, we have a Yale on the front door

[Richard T]

Never put a Yale type lock anywhere unless you have a spare key which is secreted somehwere on the outside of the boat. We don't have Yale locks on our house for the same reasons.

[Ray T]

Not our boat but an idea I once saw.

Not inside either.

 

Inside our boat back doors we have a selection of bolts, 5 in all. Similar to suggested in OP's photo plus others. On the top door bolts I have fitted shields  so they cannot be got at from the outside.

Edited April 11, 2020 by Ray T

[Tracy D'arth]

An obvious external lock = obviously no one at home in the boat.

 

[ Unless stupidly the occupier leaves his escape locked when aboard ]

Edited April 11, 2020 by Tracy D'arth
added

[Flyboy]

1 hour ago, WotEver said:

Two interior sliding bolts to lock the hatch to the runners, two interior sliding bolts to lock the left hand door to the hatch and the floor, then a Yale type front door lock on the right hand door. Slam it to close it, unlock it from outside with a key and from inside by turning the knob. 

Exactly the same setup that I've got, works well.  I can double lock the Yale from inside or outside.

[WotEver]

1 hour ago, Flyboy said:

Exactly the same setup that I've got, works well.  I can double lock the Yale from inside or outside.

Yup, it’s what we had on WotEver. 

[Thomas C King]

Thanks everyone, I'll go with the bolt and yale combination as suggested, and have a google for shields to stop the bolt fixings from being unscrewed from the outside.

[ditchcrawler]

10 minutes ago, Thomas C King said:

Thanks everyone, I'll go with the bolt and yale combination as suggested, and have a google for shields to stop the bolt fixings from being unscrewed from the outside.

If the bolt is on the inside there will nothing to unscrew on the outside, unless you put nuts and bolts through the doors

[Thomas C King]

6 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

If the bolt is on the inside there will nothing to unscrew on the outside, unless you put nuts and bolts through the doors

I might be missing something, but I don't know how to fit the bolts to the sliding hatch, which is made of thin steel, without putting holes through it.