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   [Boat & Yacht Design](/articles/boat-yacht-design)# Accommodations Escape Hatches

 Feb 21, 2020

 

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 ![“NMMA](/sites/default/files/inline-images/nmma-contract-logo.jpg)

![Escape-Hatches](/sites/default/files/inline-images/escape-hatches-1.jpeg)



**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.

![“NMMA](/sites/default/files/inline-images/nmma-contract-logo.jpg)

### 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](/sites/default/files/inline-images/escape-hatches-2.jpeg)

**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.** ![“NMMA](/sites/default/files/inline-images/nmma-contract-logo.jpg)