ANYONE INTERESTED IN MAKING A WOOD COMPANIONWAY DOOR FOR MY BOAT?

[LOLA]

SEE ODD SHAPE I WILL SEND MORE PICTURES IF INTERESTED , AND WE CAN DISCUSS COST.

[Suky Cannon]

Hi Lola, what do you have now ? it is an odd shape.. but kinda cool.

[LOLA]

Suky...2 clear drop ins

[Ray]

Lusting for wooden swinging doors for mine too. Found plans on the Pearson website. May try making then soon.

[Veranda]

Why do you want the existing boards replaced? The clear plexi lets in a lot of light that you'll be losing if you go with solid wood.

Security? Keep prying eyes out? Could you paint the inside of the plastic? You know, the way they paint on the inside of glass and the outside looks so good.

Bill

[LOLA]

Don't want to slide in...want hinged like a wood open from side , or 2 swinging doors....Could be clear frosted.

[Terri]

Think you may want to be able to put the old ones back in when needed. Just in case, when you are in heavy weather. Don't think the louvre ones good for that. Could be wrong though, depends on make.

[LOLA]

Well yes, Terri that is the way it is done. Also panels can slide in on back sides of Louvers...look at that site you sent...Thanks for your thoughts though.

[Mac]

Hi Lola,
I knew you said it was an odd shape but what a problem this one is to make swinging doors for. The problem, as you may know, is the port side and trying to put hinges on something this shape that would open. My suggestion would be to make a bi-fold door with hinges fastened to the starboard side and a piano hinge down the center. This would have to open to the outside and the odd side would fold to the more straight side on the starboard.

I wonder what the builder was thinking when this opening was designed and built. I can see no reason to have a point at the top going to port side like in the photo other than to make it hard to put a door in or to have companion way boards, wood or plastic, with a point on top that makes it hard to store and takes up space when not in the companionway.

I have always preferred slide in boards as they can be made in 2 or 3 parts that allow you to have a section that can be solid wood, clear plastic or with a vent and screen for ventilation and still have privacy. Since they can be smaller than a one piece large board they are easier to store when not in place in the opening. Have to look at storage space on a small boat like my Bayfield 25.

Nice looking interior on your boat.

Mac

[LOLA]

Thanks,...I wonder if one could board in the odd shape on Port...with or without hinges of own, then treat the rest as a normal rectangle?

I have an interior wall on starboard side that the door could be pulled in, and rest on inside.?

[Mac]

Hi Lola, I need to get my eyes adjusted and engage brain as this photo makes it easier to see the shape. What I thought was a point at the top is from the opening of the sliding hatch, I feel so dumb now. Looking at this photo a bi-fold that swung to the starboard and folded in should not be that hard to have made. Even my Bayfield has a greater slant on the port side of the opening than the starboard but not as great an angle as yours. The opening looks to be narrow at the bottom, maybe 15 to 16 inches? A door that folded in would remove about an inch and a half from this.

I just checked my old companionway board from my Bayfield and it is 20 inches wide at the bottom and 21 1/2 inches at the top. Looks like all the angle is on the port side. This was original to the boat and is one piece and I like to have a couple of boards that do not take up so much space when not installed. My old Alacrity had 3 boards mounted in the opening from the factory with a window board or a vent board for in the center that could be interchanged with the other 2. My other Bayfield also had 3 boards while I made the ones for the present Bayfiled to be 2 and am going to modify the larger one to be 2 boards with interchangeable center boards for ventalation or a window.

I am just getting ready to head out to the boat to install an alarm system as we have had some problems with boats getting broken into at the yacht club. They climb or cut the fence and have been caught coming in by boat. There has been more of this in the last year than I remember seeing before.

Mac

[LOLA]

The first photo is a little misleading