Cabinet Hardware That Holds When It Counts

The right cabinet latches can mean the difference between a clean belowdecks and a life-threatening mess when storm seas send your boat flying.

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A push-in clevis pin locks two bypass doors with a single motion—and when the doors are open, a lanyard keeps the pin within reach for quick reinsertion. The lanyard is not pictured here, but there is a hole in the pin to insert one. (Photo/ Curtis Prince)

One of the aspects of safety on a voyaging sailboat that I am most concerned about is that objects stay stowed where they're supposed to live, with absolutely no chance of them getting away. Loose objects rolling around in a locker or a lazarette are one thing, but stuff escaping from a locker or lazarette and rolling around on the sole are another. I think the importance of a situation like being knocked down is often underestimated these days, and the danger of loose objects in the boat is often not even considered.

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Buoyancy blows my mind! When I was a little kid I used to float sticks and leaves down the creak, alone for hours, steering them around the bends and guiding them through the rapids with another longer stick, just to watch them float. When I got older I traded in my floating stick for a real boat... That's when I got in trouble! I grew up on boats, I was probably on one while still in the womb, and if I'm lucky I'll die on one too. There's only one thing I love more than boats, and that's soft crabs. I have over 50 yrs. working on boats and 20 of those have been spent sailing and fitting out voyaging sailboats. I'm currently fitting out Bella Sera, my Crealock 37, hull #15 for a voyage to Patagonia.