Press clipping
Latitudes & Attitudes reviewed the ATN Dorcap
The cruising magazine put the Dorcap hatch ventilator in its boat show roundup under the headline "New ATN Dorcap Turns Hatches into Air Vents & Dorade Boxes". Here is what the editors found, in our words, with their key lines quoted and the original scanned clipping preserved as a PDF.
What the review found
Latitudes & Attitudes came across the ATN Dorcap at the boat show and framed it exactly the way founder Etienne Giroire designed it: a hatch air vent that gives a cruising boat the ventilation of a dorade box without cutting a hole in the deck. Traditional boat vents, the cowl vent feeding a dorade box, need a deck penetration, a water trap, and a permanent fitting. The Dorcap instead mounts over the deck hatch you already have, so the hatch itself becomes the vent.
The editors singled out the two settings. In the maximum airflow position, the review credits the Dorcap's rigid shape and lack of lateral leakage with driving an air stream below decks that doubles the airflow of the open hatch alone. In the rain risk position, the review's verdict is the one every tropical cruiser cares about: airflow like an open hatch while the rain stays out, so the crew keeps sleeping when the squall arrives.
Two more points from the magazine matter to buyers. First, fit: the review notes the Dorcap works with hatches that open toward the bow, rearwards, or crosswise, with only the deck-to-hatch installation method changing. Second, the use case: the editors framed it squarely for hot tropical climates, the same at-anchor, warm-weather cruising the Dorcap was built for. Not sure which installation fits your hatch? Talk to ATN about Dorcap sizing.
The review also let readers in on the brand story: ATN is simply how you pronounce Etienne. The magazine's line on it is quoted below, and it is still the fastest way to remember who builds this gear.
In the magazine's own words
“His company, ATN Products (yes, Etienne is pronounced ATN) has come up with the perfect answer to get air below decks when you are in the hot tropical climates.”
Latitudes & Attitudes, page 98, Spring 2012 (inferred). Print only. Latitudes & Attitudes
“The ‘rain risk’ position enables airflow identical to that of an open hatch without the inconvenience of rain entering the boat.”
Latitudes & Attitudes, page 98, Spring 2012 (inferred). Print only. Latitudes & Attitudes
“The Dorcap can be used for all types of hatch openings: towards the bow, rearwards, or crosswise. Only the installation method between the deck and the hatch changes.”
Latitudes & Attitudes, page 98, Spring 2012 (inferred). Print only. Latitudes & Attitudes
The review's key line also appears in the press section of our Press and Reviews page, alongside owner testimonials for every ATN product.
Read the original clipping
The scanned magazine page is the canonical version of this review, and we keep it intact as it ran in print. It is a single spread from the magazine's boat show coverage, so the same page also carries an unrelated propeller review; that is the archival page as printed, not part of the Dorcap story.
More ways ATN cools a cabin
The Dorcap is the at-anchor, rain-tolerant half of the ventilation answer. For moving air through opening ports, see the ATN AirScoop; for keeping the tropical sun off the boat in the first place, catamaran and trimaran owners pair it with the ATN Multihull Awning.
Twice the air below decks, rain or shine.
The Dorcap the magazine reviewed is still built by ATN in Florida, sized to your hatch.
More ATN in print and online: all ATN press coverage and news · SAIL Magazine on storm sails and the Gale Sail · what the press and owners say