Cuddy Doors

[whitejw1967]

Another question from the newest Daysailer owner: Has anyone put hinged wooden doors onto a DSII and, if so, how did you do it? Is there a reason NOT to put some kind of door on it?

John

[algonquin]

I guess you could hinge mount a cuddy door but it is much more functional to have a door made with panel/panels that are removable. That way you can stow them in the cuddy and out of the way for easier access to the cuddy while sailing. When you put the boat away for the night close it up. I have owned a number of sailboats with cabins and believe that mounted cuddy doors would be a bit of a pain. You would need a way to secure them open as well as closed. If you do plan to sleep in the cuddy you could have a separate panel with a screen so you could get fresh bug free air in the cabin. Brad

[jeadstx]

D&R Marine sells the doors for the cuddy cabin. When I got my DS2, the previous owner had made replacement doors, similar to the original, except with non-marine grade plywood instead of teak like the original. They were badly warpped. I was going to buy a set from D&R, but was fortunate to find a used original set on ebay for $5.

John

[talbot]

OK, here's another one: Anyone tried to retrofit a DSII with a waterproof hatch a la the new DS I and the DS III?

The two-piece doors are really just for minimal security. They don't even keep the rain out very well. I was thinking of making a one-piece panel of 1/4" marine plywood the same size as the 2-piece doors, but with an inner lip that fits into the hatch.

There would be seals on both the inner lip and on the overlap against the bulkhead. Fasteners would be levered hatch latches, with the levers mounted on the hatch. With the hatch removed (as it would be in most conditions), you would have minimal hardware on the bulkhead.

Any advice? "Why bother?" you ask. If you've read the thread on capsizing, a common theme is that once a DS cabin fills with water, you have zip chance of self rescue. We enjoy sailing in higher winds, and on those days I would like the extra margin of safety. I suppose another option would be to spring for a modern DS I. I'm just waiting for my Publisher's Clearinghouse Sweepstakes to come in.

[Alan]

I've got one in progress. It's done enough to use, and works fine as a security door, but I haven't given it the capsize test. Yet, anyway.

It's one big piece, rather than the traditional sliding companionway door with fixed side pieces, because I wanted it to be as watertight as possible in a capsize. I don't expect it to be completely waterproof, but it should buy some time to get the boat righted.

I started with 3/4-inch mahogany plywood (because that's what I had laying around the garage). I used Roger's method of outlining the opening (climb in the cuddy, have someone hold a big piece of cardboard against it and draw a template). I left the sides and bottom rectangular (to make it easier to build). I cut the top curve veeerrrry carefully with a saber saw, than hand sanded to the pencil line.

It's framed with solid mahogany, one inch wide by 1-1/4 inches deep. The framing is flush with the cuddy side, to make a good seal, and sticks out on the cockpit side just to look fancy-schmancy.

I had to make the top framing piece in 1/4-inch-thick strips so they would bend to the shape of the curve, then laminate them.

The cuddy opening surface is pretty warped, so I put standard edging on it, and air conditioning pipe foam over that. This compresses enough when the door is secured to form what looks like a good seal.

The door is secured by four locking hatch latches (like big cabinet locks), which make it look nautical as all get-out. If I had it to do over again, though, I'd use latches just at the top two corners and flat bars attached to the inside surface along the bottom edge.

And, if I had it to do over again, I'd make an upper edge that overlaps the top of the cuddy like Roger did, partly to keep rain out and partly for looks.

It's got four coats of oil-based stain so far. It'll get spar varnish as soon as the weather warms up.

[talbot]

Great. Got any pictures?

[Alan]

I could take some easily enough, but I haven't quite figured out how to post them. I'd love to - other people's photos have been really helpful.

[GreenLake]

The easy way to share images that you have on your PC:

First step, resize your images to no more than 800 px wide or tall and medium quality. That should ensure they fit.
(ResizeMyPictures on Windows is a single minded utility that does just that job - all heavy duty image editors also allow resize and control of JPEG compression - the result needs to fit the limit of this forum, about 175KB).

Second step, go to the "Photos" tab at the top of the page. Find your personal gallery, follow the instructions to upload

Third step, get the image ID (if you hover over the thumbnail, the status bar will show a link that includes that ID. It's a three digit, soon 4-digit number). Note down that number.

Follow the instructions here
http://forum.daysailer.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1162
on how to embed a thumbnail of your image into a thread.
You will need the ID number from the previous step.

Done!

Alternatively, if your images are already posted up somewhere...

Step one: Copy the link to your image. The method depends on the image sharing site.

Step two: click on IMG above

Step three: After the

Code: Select all

[img]

tag, paste the link to your image

Step four: click on "close tags"

Done!

Advantage of the second method is that you don't need to pay attention to the resolution and file size limits for uploads. However, very large images make a thread hard to read, and if you change anything about your picture sharing service, people reading your thread later won't be able to see anything. Because your image sharing site doesn't know about this forum, it can't warn you when you delete or move images.

[Alan]

Thanks, GreenLake. Soon as I get a breather from my current work project, I'll take some photos and post them.

[Alan]

OK, managed to post some cuddy door photos to my personal gallery. Next step: embedded thumbnails! In the meantime, they're there. I couldn't get a decent photo angle on the door in the boat, so it's leaning against a garage door. Just for reference, it overlaps the cuddy opening by a few inches on the sides, and there's about one inch of exposed fiberglass at the top when the door is in position. On the bottom, it rests on the seats.

[GreenLake]

Nice photos. Here's one of your thumbnails.



and inside the code box is what I typed in the edit field to get it:

Code: Select all

Nice photos. Here's one of your thumbnails.
[album]810[/album]

To get the number, 810 in this case, just place your mouse over the thumbnail in your personal gallery and look at the last digits of what shows up in the status bar at the bottom of the window (this works for Internet Explorer).

[Roger]

Send me an e-mail at roger02 at mts dott nett and I will send you pics of the door. Essentially, the top of the single door has a lip on it that extends about an inch forward over the top of the cuddy roof. The sides of the door frame are bolted to the cuddy bulkhead and allow the door to slide down much like a traditional companionway hatchboard. The bottom frame slants down and out to shed any water. A series of table saw cuts that function for ventilation are beveled to shed water out. It is backed by some screening on the inside to keep bugs out.

[Moose]

I am looking to building something like this over the winter. May I ask where you got the hardware, do you have a part number?

Thanks!

[Alan]

Moose,

If you're talking about the latches, I got them from Cabela's, here:

http://www.cabelas.com/hatches-storage- ... atch.shtml

Part number is IK-016058.

I've since replaced them with mirror-polished stainless latches from marinepartdepot.com, here:

http://store.marinepartdepot.com/po316ststrot.html

[Moose]

cool, Thanks!

Did you switch from one to the other for any reasons other than looks?