Boat & Yacht Design

Accommodations Escape Hatches

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Escape-Hatches
Forward hatches are there for a reason, and it's not ventilation. Make sure you can get out, as is possible in this vessel. 

No boater wants to look at the hatch over the berth in the bow stateroom and say, “Could I climb through that if I really needed to?” The only thing worse than needing to use a stateroom escape hatch is discovering one is in a stateroom without an escape hatch or one that is too small. The ABYC has set explicit standards so that boats allow their occupants to leave in a hurry.

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Boat Building Standards:

Emergency Egress from Accommodations

 

ABYC Standards--

  • Enclosed accommodation compartments shall have a readily accessible and unobstructed means of exit and shall have a second readily accessible means of exit to the open air if the main exit leads through or over an engine space or directly past a cooking appliance.
  • A round hatch used for egress should be at least 18” (45.72 cm) in diameter. Any other shape should be large enough for a 14.5-inch (36.38-cm) diameter circle to be inscribed.
Escape-Hatches
Here’s the downside of high overheads on cruising yachts, such as the Fleming 58 (left) we tested recently: The hatch is too high to reach and climb out in an emergency. The solution? Fleming stowes an escape ladder in a hanging locker to facilitate egress, and is one of the few brands we have tested that does.
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