If kayak hatches are on your mind, then you’re likely: 1) Trying to figure out how to jam more gear into your current kayak or, 2) Considering a new kayak and thinking about how much storage room you really need.
In this article, I’ll discuss all things ‘kayak hatch’. I’ll go over the anatomy and components of a hatch, how to use a kayak hatch for its for various purposes, how to install and repair them, as well as what to do if your hatch springs a leak mid-excursion.
To use a kayak hatch, loosen any straps holding the hatch in place. Next, remove the lid to release the air-tight seal. Use a light-weight grabber tool to reach gear positioned at the far end of the bow or stern. If packing for an excursion, use dry bags exclusively. When finished, reseal the hatch and tighten any straps.
Table of Contents
Anatomy of a storage hatch
In simple terms, think of a storage hatch as an air-tight compartment inside your sit-in kayak. (Some sit-on-tops have them as well.)
Most kayaks have a hatch located at the bow. Some have them at the bow and stern.
Bulkheads make the magic happen
A bulkhead is a vertical wall located inside your kayak, wedged between the bottom hull and the top deck.
This wall is usually manufactured with minicell foam and is sealed to the hull and deck with a sealant – often Lexel.
The sealant needs to be strong enough to maintain a tight seal but flexible enough to withstand the many forces that kayaks experience.
Again, some kayaks only have a bulkhead located at the bow, while others have both a bow and stern bulkhead.
Bulkheads section off a portion of the kayak, creating a storage hatch.
Twofold role of the kayak hatch
Safety and bouyancy
Properly installed bulkheads seal off the cockpit of the kayak. Water doesn’t flow from the bow or stern to the cockpit and vice versa.
When the hatch access hole is sealed by an effective hatch cover, it creates a watertight compartment full of air that helps keep your kayak afloat.
If you capsize and your cockpit fills with water, the watertight kayak hatches filled with air will keep your kayak from sinking.
Kayak hatches crafted with properly-installed bulkheads are an important safety feature of sit-in kayaks.
Real estate to store your gear
Not only do kayak hatches provide safety to your boat, they also give you a place to store your gear.
This is the second role of kayak hatches.
Usually, this is the main reason that drives paddlers to inquire about kayak hatches. Often, paddlers want to take a trip but need to make sure their kayak can store enough gear to make the trip happen safely and comfortably.
We’ll discuss this in greater detail shortly.
The special situation of the day hatch
The day hatch is a storage hatch that a paddler can reach while remaining seated in her kayak.
This is where the snacks, water bottle, first aid kit and immediately-necessary items are stowed, in order to keep them off the deck of the kayak and from bouncing around the floor of the cockpit.
Day hatches usually don’t provide buoyancy and safety to the vessel, however his depends on the construction of the kayak.
Often, a day hatch is constructed with an attached waterproof sack. When you open the hatch cover, rather than dropping gear all the way down to the floor of your kayak, the sack catches and stows those items that you want to keep within arm’s reach.
This keeps your granola bars from sloshing around the floor of your boat.
Types of kayak hatch covers
Most kayak manufacturers design hatch covers to fit their own boats. There are also manufacturers of aftermarket hatch covers that offer alternatives to manufacturer-made covers.
What is the shape of your hatch opening?
Kayaks are manufactured with openings of different sizes and shapes.
Typically, the shape of a hatch opening is round, oval, rectangular or A-Shaped.
The size of a hatch opening can range from a large 16.5”x11.8” oval to a small, round 4” day hatch.
If you plan to purchase an after-market hatch cover, double-check that you and the manufacturer measure the same openings in the same way.
Screw hatch cover
This style of hatch cover is commonly found on day hatches that are opened and closed multiple times during a day.
Screw hatch covers don’t require muscle or physical leverage to open them, as do other rubber or neoprene hatch covers.
As you might expect, you simply unscrew the cover when it’s time for a Snickers (or an Advil).
The downside to this style of hatch is that, over time, sand and dirt can get caught in the thread of the screwing mechanism.
Also, the plastic is rigid so it will degrade over time as it absorbs water and swells.
Twist lock hatch cover
The twist lock hatch cover is a mechanism that allows for one-hand operation.
Simply lift the locking handle out of its recessed storage location, then twist left to open or right to close.
This process will either release, or re-seal the hatch cover.
When closed, the rubber gasket of the twist lock hatch cover provides an adequate seal against incoming water.
When open, the hinges keep the hatch lid attached to the kayak, so you don’t lose a lid and have to paddle home with an open hatch.
Minor leakage can be expected when paddling in rougher conditions.
(Some manufacturers have expanded the twist lock model design by adding numerous twist locks along the external perimeter of the hatch. This improves watertightness but increases the amount of time required to actually operate it.)
Rubber hatch cover
Rubber hatch covers don’t typically have moving parts. They are designed as a single rubber/plastic cap.
Rubber hatch covers are designed to fit tightly around the lip of the hatch opening or tightly around an accompanying gasket.
Removing and replacing these hatch covers can take some muscle and require physical leverage.
As with any rubber/plastic component, exposure to UV rays will eventually compromise its strength.
Use 303 Aerospace Protectant spray to extend the life of your hatch covers (as well as the rest of your kayak.)
Neoprene hatch cover
Neoprene hatch covers stretch across the existing combing of a storage hatch and provide a very effective watertight seal.
They do however require muscle and physical leverage to operate – rendering them sometimes difficult to use.
Other hatch cover accessories
It’s common for paddlers to install strap-style mechanisms across the top of the kayak hatch cover.
These straps are often equipped with buckles or other tightening functionality. Their purpose is to hold the hatch cover in place and help it maintain a watertight seal.
How to use your kayak hatches for day trips
When embarking on a day trip in your kayak, your day hatch should be one of your best friends.
Remember, the day hatch is the only storage cavity in your boat that is accessible while you remain seated.
As such, you’ll want to store those items in your day hatch that, if needed, can be accessed in an instant.
First Aid kit
A small kit containing only essentials that could be immediately necessary out on the water.
This should include: Band-aids. Gauze. Wraps. Tweezers. Disinfectant. Crazy glue (for stitches). Scissors. Pain killers. Benadryl. Pepto Bismal.
Think of your First Aid kit as a repair kit for people.
Repair kit
Think of this as a repair kit for everything else. When I say everything else, this usually means holes in boats.
If you’re sufficiently far from land that your kayak won’t be able to limp back, then you’ll need supplies to repair a hole in your hull, on the fly.
Also problematic can be broken foot pegs and seat back bands.
A repair kit should include: Kneadable epoxy. Duct tape (bring lots, just in case). Plumber’s repair tape. Plastic sheet (12” x 12”) for significant repairs. Self-tapping screws. Aquaseal. Utility tool (with blade). Screwdriver.
Warm clothing
If you’re kayaking in a climate that can get chilly, pack: An extra toque. Arctic fleece sweater. Arctic fleece mittens.
You might find yourself needing some extra warmth. Alternatively, someone in your party (like a child or grandchild) might need it (and didn’t think to bring it).
Pack all clothing in a dry sack.
Don’t include cotton clothing in that dry sack. Cotton clothing only creates heartache when out on the water. Don’t make your heart ache.
Communication and rescue equipment
If your journey takes you through coastal waters, then a VHF radio is a must. This will be your key means of communication with the Coast Guard in an emergency situation.
You might also benefit from a Garmin or SPOT GPS device that identifies your location and provides alternative means of communication.
Other visual signalling tools that will help rescuers identify your exact location should also be stowed. These tools could include: Signal mirror. Orange smoke canister. Sea rescue banner. Aerial flares. Parachute flares. Flare pistol. Strobe light.
Auditory signalling devices could include: Whistle. Foghorn. Cell phone. Two-way radio. EPIRBB and Personal location beacon.
Obviously, you won’t stow everything on this list in your day hatch. That would be overkill and you wouldn’t have enough room, anyway.
Simply use your judgement based on where you plan to paddle, what the risks are and how to quickly contact the folks that can provide rapid assistance.
Food
Bring some. Kayaking takes energy. Bring enough of the right kind of food so that your body receives the energy it needs but you don’t screw up your blood sugar levels by binging on a bunch of Milk Duds and Sour Patch Kids.
Bring plenty of water.
How to use your kayak hatches for overnight excursions
Overnight excursions are an entirely different animal when compared to day trips.
Learning what to pack and where to pack it takes experience plus a little bit of artistry.
In fact, I wrote an entire article on how to pack a kayak for an expedition. Here are some key points about packing for overnight excursions as it relates to using kayak hatches:
Sleeping gear
Sleeping gear is soft and dry. It is imperative that it remains dry so pack it in a watertight dry sack.
Sleeping gear can be stowed in several smaller dry sacks, allowing you to use all of the nooks and crannies found in your storage hatch.
Because it doesn’t weigh much, sleeping gear should be stowed at the bow and stern of your kayak.
(As a key principle of kayak-packing, your boat should be loaded with its weight low and centered. Heavy items should be packed close to the cockpit. Lighter items should be stowed near the extremes.)
Food and food-preparation gear
Food preparation gear, along with the food itself, is usually a little heavier than your sleeping gear. As such, it should be positioned closer to the cockpit.
Some food, such as oatmeal, needs to be kept dry. Stow foods like this in dry sacks.
Other packaged food can be stowed in nylon bags.
Sometimes it helps to color-code your dry sacks and nylon bags, making it easier to identify what you’ll find before you open up the bag.
Be sure to pack fuel away from the food. Consider stowing food in the bow and equipment + fuel in the stern.
As a pro-tip, stow perishable food like fruits and vegetables below the waterline and close to the hull.
The benefit of doing this is the cooler temperature for your perishables.
The downside is that your food might get a little bruised if you have a paddling style where you bump into things a lot.
Water is heavy. A gallon of it weighs over 8 lbs. It needs to be stowed low, in the middle of your kayak and close to the cockpit.
A rule of thumb is, if you need to stow a heavy item, put it in the back.
Managing trim and balance
When packing your hatches full of overnight camping equipment, be mindful of the trim and balance of your kayak.
Trim is the extent to which one end of your boat sits higher or lower in the water than the other end.
Ideally, we pack our kayaks such that they remain well-balanced on the water. If one end of the boat must be slightly heavier than the other, it should usually be the stern.
Balance is the extent to which one side of your kayak sits higher or lower in the water than the other. In other words, is your boat leaning to a particular side?
The more trimmed and balanced you are able keep your boat as you pack your hatches, the better it will track when you paddle it.
Packing pro tip – Use hooks and loops
It can be difficult to jam dry sacks into the furthest reaches of your bow. It can be equally as difficult to pull them back out again.
To make life easier, tie a loop to the end of any dry bag that will be packed a long way from the hatch-opening.
Next, manufacture a DIY tool with a hook on the end. It could literally be as simple as a straightened metal hanger (with a hook on the end) lashed to one end of your safety pull-apart paddle.
When it comes time to fish out that dry sack located in an entirely different ZIP code of your boat, use the DIY paddle/hook combo to pull the sack out by its loop.
How to install a kayak hatch
At first blush, cutting a big hole in the deck of your kayak probably seems like a daunting task.
It needn’t be.
In most cases, you install kayak hatches in locations where a hatch opening would already exist, had you spent the extra money on an upgraded kayak in the first place.
Let’s go through the steps to install a kayak hatch.
Step 1. Locate the position of the new hatch
It should actually be pretty obvious. Most new kayak hatch installations are made on the bow of the deck, the stern of the deck, or sometimes on the floor between your legs.
Many kayaks make it easy to determine where to position the hatch. In fact, often you need a double-take to realize that there isn’t already a hatch there.
In these situations, the kayak is usually moulded such that a flat, level location is easily identified and screaming to be cut out.
If you’re going ‘off-grid’ and installing a hatch in a location that is not pre-specified by the manufacturer, best of luck! It’s absolutely doable, but there is less margin for error.
For this exercise, let’s assume that you’re installing a hatch at a pre-specified hatch location.
Step 2. Select a hatch cover
Choose one that will fit the location of the hole you are about to cut.
Make sure there is not only room for the hole, but also space on top of the deck for the gasket, hinges and tightening straps.
Step 3. Center the hatch cover
This is a situation where you measure twice and cut once.
Position the hatch cover in the exact middle of the location where you will cut the hole.
Then, trace around the exterior of the conduit that will fit in the hole with a pen or marker.
Remove the hatch and double-check the position of the circle you just drew. Measure from the line to some symmetrical landmark that exists on both sides of the boat.
In my experience, getting the side-to-side balance right is visually important.
You don’t need to be perfect, but you do need to be close.
Step 4. Drill a hole inside the cut-out zone, near the line you plan to cut
This hole should be inside the circle/rectangle/A-shape that you are about to cut out.
It should be big enough to fit a jigsaw blade inside.
Step 5. Cut out the hole for the hatch
I recommend you use a jigsaw for the job.
There are a lot of DIY kayak hatch installation videos floating around. Some are great. Others are, meh….
One video resulted in a cut that looked like my beard after two weeks of growth (which I like to think of as shaggy, but distinguished.)
If you’re inexperienced using a jigsaw, practice cutting on spare wood or even a polyethylene bucket. This will help you get a feel for the vibration of the blade, the occasional kickbacks, and the pressure you’ll need to maintain to cut round edges.
Use a moderate-tooth blade that is less aggressive than a wood blade but more aggressive than a metal one.
When you’re ready, insert the blade into the pilot hole you drilled earlier.
Turn the jigsaw on and make a cut towards the edge of the shape you traced.
You don’t want to cut straight to the line and then require an immediate 90 degree turn in order to track the line you traced.
Rather, approach the exterior line from an angle so that it is easy to adjust to it without having to make a hard, clunky turn with your saw blade.
Think of merging your vehicle from an on-ramp onto the highway. Now, do it with your saw.
Cut all the way around the shape.
Pop out the cut-out plastic/fiberglass and store it somewhere. You never know when you’ll need it for a repair.
Step 6. Smooth the edge of the hole
Use an X-Acto blade or small chisel to clean up any burrs or rough spots along the cut.
You can follow this up with a light sanding with light-to-medium grit paper.
Step 7. Remove debris and prepare surface
Vacuum any excess plastic particles that are lying inside the kayak or on the outer deck.
When clean, apply acetone to the area around the hatch hole. This will clean any lingering oils or petroleum residue. It’s best to wear polyethylene gloves to do this.
Next, etch the area to which you applied acetone. Do this with 60-80 grit sandpaper.
Vacuum the grit.
You might want to apply acetone one more time to make sure the opening is super-clean.
Step 8. Position the hatch cover and drill pilot holes
At this point you’ll need to follow the exact instructions provided by the manufacturer of the hatch cover.
Some hatch covers mount mechanically on rubber gaskets. Other hatch covers require a sealant to ensure water-tightness.
Place the hatch cover over the hole you just cut. Drill a single pilot hole into the kayak through a screw-opening in the hatch cover.
Insert a screw (or more ideally, a rivet) inside this first hole. This will help keep the hatch cover in position while you drill the ensuing holes.
For extra stability, consider drilling a second pilot hole on the opposite side of the hatch covering and installing a screw/rivet there as well.
Remember that pilot holes need to be smaller in diameter than the screws/rivets so that the screws can bite.
If your particular hatch mounts with a rubber seal, you might need to place this on the kayak before you position the hatch and drill the holes. Do what the manufacturer instructs.
Step 9. Apply sealant to the hatch cover (if necessary)
If your hatch requires a sealant between the hatch cover and the kayak, apply it now. Lexel, Aquaseal, or straight silicon are strong sealants with varying degrees of flexibility. For this application, I prefer Lexel or silicon.
Do not apply sealant to the pilot holes when using ny-loc screws. This will prevent them from biting.
Position the hatch cover (with sealant applied) such that the screw holes sit over the pilot holes.
Press down on the hatch cover and let sit.
Step 10. Fasten the hatch cover to the kayak with screws
Use the screws (or rivets) that came with the hatch cover. If there are none, use ny-loc bolts with stainless steel nuts.
Insert all of the screws. Avoid overtightening.
From the underside of the deck, use nuts to tighten screws to the kayak. This might require use of a socket set to grip the nut from the below.
Step 11. Seal the screws and edge of the hatch cover
Once the hatch cover is firmly attached, you can then proceed to seal any places where the cover contacts the kayak that water might enter.
I like to apply dabs of sealant to the top of the screws (only after they are inserted and tightened), as well as to the underside where the nuts fasten the screws to the deck.
I also like to apply a bead of sealant around the perimeter of the hatch cover where it connects with the deck, like you would bead a line of caulking between your kitchen counter and backsplash.
Provide the sealant sufficient time to cure. Silicon cures quickly, but does require some time.
Depending on the type of hatch cover installed, you might choose to attach tightening straps or even a leash to keep the cover attached to the boat when not deployed.
In summary, remember that some kayak hatch covers install differently and that the above narrative was a notional example of a typical installation.
Still, the key principles remain consistent, even if the installation technique is slightly different.
For instructions on how to install an A-Style Hatch, have a read here.
How to maintain and repair a kayak hatch
Kayak hatches are subject to the pounding of ultraviolet light as well as the mechanical wear-and-tear of life on a boat.
Protecting your kayak hatches against ultraviolet light
Earlier, I mentioned that 303 Aerospace Protectant is a spray solution that protects various plastic and rubber from the negative impacts of UV rays.
Periodically, spray your kayak hatches (and the rest of your boat) with this solution and rub it in with a rag. This will prove helpful and extend the life of your boat.
Also, store your kayak such that it is not directly in the sunlight.
Avoiding sunlight isn’t exactly practical while on a trip. But when you’re at home, store your kayak in a garage, in a basement, or at the very least, covered by a clean, tight-fitting tarp.
Repairing (and modding) the components of your kayak hatch
The primary source of kayak hatch leakage is a damaged gasket.
The gasket is a foam/plastic/rubber seal that fills the space between the hatch lid and the kayak deck.
Most damage is inflicted upon these gaskets as we load and unload our kayaks. Bulky, oversized packages such as big dry sacks and coolers are usually the main culprits.
Gaskets can be compromised when you force big items into your storage hatch.
As a pro-tip, rather than try to jam a large dry sack into storage, empty the bag, place it in the boat and then fill it up. This will take a little more time but will decrease the wear on your gasket.
When your gasket does fail, it can be easily removed and replaced by a new one from the kayak manufacturer or an after-market provider.
As your kayak ages, consider storing an extra gasket for just such an occasion.
If you are in the middle of an expedition and your gasket springs a leak, use duct tape to keep the gasket from ripping further as well as to help provide a temporary seal.
For paddlers that spend a lot of time on rough water and require a super-dry seal, enhance the performance of your gasket by installing foam around the lip of the hatch opening.
Essentially, this looks like a pool noodle that is cut down the middle and placed on the lip of the opening.
When the hatch lid is closed, the gasket presses against the foam noodle, providing for an extra-tight, extra-dry seal.
How to use a kayak hatch – Parting thoughts
The purpose of a kayak hatch is to provide buoyancy to your boat and to give you a place to stow gear while keeping it dry.
Here’s to many adventures with full hatches on floating kayaks.