Adding Companionway Door to DS2

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Adding Companionway Door to DS2

Postby DeeDee » Thu Sep 13, 2012 4:28 am

Hi All:
I just bought a DS 2 in rough shape. The door is currently made of 2 pieces of thin plywood. The doors are attached by pushing them to the side of the boat.
Problem is they are falling apart. Plan to keep the boat in the water year round.

Goal is to keep out the Seattle rain, teenagers and critters while being an inexpensive repair that can be easily built and when in use is quick to remove/replace.

The boat has a large oval opening with some raised material around the opening.

Options? Wood vs Plastic. Leaning toward plastic for long life, resistance to warping and minimal maintenance. Con: may need stiffeners to keep teens from kicking in door.

First idea was to cover the opening and mound a beam near the top and bottom and attach a U-bolt. the U-bolt would pass thru the plastic and have a padlock to secure it.

Second idea is to build side panels and slide the plastic down and lock at the bottom.
Your thoughts on how to proceed?
Dee
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Postby ChrisB » Thu Sep 13, 2012 7:41 am

DeeDee,

This is on my list of projects but I haven't done it yet. However, there is a discussion thread on this subject in the "Daysailer II Only" category. It is titled "Cuddy Doors" and the last post was January 4, 2012. There are some good ideas there.

FYI, you can use Google to search the site. In the Google search box, type:

site: daysailer.org "topic"

where "topic" is the keyword you are searching for.

Good luck.
Chris B.
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Postby GreenLake » Thu Sep 13, 2012 1:42 pm

+1 on what Chris wrote.

About materials: you can weatherproof your wood using epoxy. There's a company in your area (SystemThree Resins) that market products for that purpose and their website has literature describing how to do it.

Taking that into account would shift the balance of properties between wood and plastic to the point where wood might be your preferred alternative after all.
~ green ~ lake ~ ~
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Postby mike31416 » Fri Sep 14, 2012 6:36 am

My DSII came with doors that are 1/2" Teak Plywood. I have had the boat since 81' and they are still in good condition. The doors are exposed to the weather from April to October.

Mike
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Postby talbot » Thu Oct 04, 2012 8:46 pm

I found I could use 1/4" plywood with reinforcemnt. It's still heavy, but lighter than dong the whole board out of 1/2" or 3/8". I wanted mine waterproof in a capsize, so mine has seal all around, and multiple dogs. I worred about not having marine plywood locally available, but that would probably have been overkill. I don't think the plywood needs to be any tougher than the exterior plywood that would be used on a building at the coast.

By the way, that raised material on edge of the hatch opening pulls right off and can be replaced if it looks ratty. It's standard plastic edging available from D&R or other marine suppliers.
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Postby DeeDee » Fri Oct 05, 2012 1:36 am

Thanks for everyone's great responses.
I'm about 80% of the way there.
To keep the costs down, I'm working with PVC sheet plastic.
Its able to take the vertical bend in the walls next to the door, its bug proof, sands easily and there is no need to paint.

The main door is one sheet 3/16" x 19" x 41". The sides and bottom are secured by 3, 1/4" thick pieces. The center one is narrower and when sandwiched together they look like a slot. Basicly the big board slides down the side rails and is contained by the bottom one.

The issue.
The boom has to be moved out of the way when closing the door.
Not a huge deal, but not planned for it being in the way.

The big issue is to keep the inside dry, I'm planning to heat and bend the main door over the cabin deck. With only one heat gun, this might not work.
Back up plan 1 calls for using a 3 burner gas grill. Don't like this approach because of plastic fumes in the grill and not being able to closely control the heating or the bend position.
A second option is to use a propane torch. Its portable and not that the boat is in the water, a big plus.

The fall back plan is to buy a 1/8" plate, bend it and rivet this plate into place.
Other options?
Dee
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Postby GreenLake » Fri Oct 05, 2012 3:24 am

I like your fallback plan.

A smaller piece is also easier to redo, if the first attempt fails for any reason.
~ green ~ lake ~ ~
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Postby talbot » Fri Oct 05, 2012 12:41 pm

Yeah, curve in the bulkhead is a big hassle.
Question-- would the PVC just naturally bend to fit when it's in its slots? With semi-flexible material, seems like the only problem would be a tendency to "spring" away on the top edge. You said you were mainly concerned about rain (not capsize), so the top edge is the only one that really counts. I would guess that one or two twist latches on the top edge that hook under cuddy lip wold take care of the problem.

Otherwise, I look forward to the results of your bending experiments. I've considered the same thing for plywood. One other suggestion is to make two wooden ribs for the inside of the hatch that are sanded to the same curve as the bulkhead. The flexible plastic or playwood hatche would be screwed to the ribs, which would force the sheet into place. That's the theory--I haven't tried it.
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Postby DeeDee » Fri Oct 05, 2012 1:30 pm

The main board, slide in great. It follows the curve and just needs a slight push to align with the bottom slot.
Will send pictures soon.
Dee
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