Art I would love to see it. I've been thinking about doing the same.
Ok, so here's how to make a screen for your Hunter 49.
You will either need to be a little handy, or have a good friend that is.
The first thing you will notice in the photos is that when the companionway doors are fully open, there is a slot which is formed beween the hinged part of the door, and the aluminum extrusion that the door mounts to.
This slot is approximately 3/8" wide, and we will use this slot to drop a screen down into.
As you will see in the photos, the screen has to be made so that it will fit into the area of the slots, and flush to the bottom, as well as just flush to the underside of the sliding hatch when it is closed.
The way to start is that you will need to make an accurate cardboard template of the exact opening of the companionway, inside of the slot areas. Make the template out of some pretty rugged cardboard.
when you design it, make it purposely too high.
Then close the hatch, and scribe a pencil line along the bottom of the hatch on the cardboard. You will now have a pretty good cardboard drop-in screen. You want to have about 1/16" clearance on the left and right sides so that it lifts in and out easilly.
Ok, the problem is then, how do you make the screen?
It is not possible to make it out of wood, because it would be way too thin. Plus, making an accurate frame and jointing the corners would be for a master cabinet maker. Plus, it would snap like a teig being only 1/4" thick.
So, if you go to home depot, you will notice that they sell screen kits.
The problem with these screen kits is that they are made for rectanglar screens. As you will notice from your cardboard template, the opening is radiused at the bottom, and has a non-square angle at the top.
So this is where either you, or your handy friend get to work.
If you look at the screen extrusion, it just happens to have a 1/4" inside thickness. In other words, the tiny right angle pieces of plastic that join the extrusion at the corners are slightly less than 1/4" thick.
What you need to do is purchase some 1/4" thick aluminum plate. The alloy isn't important. You can use 6061 pre-anodized, as it is cheap to get.
You'll need a piece approximately 24" long x 6" wide. This will give you plenty.
Now, you have to take 2 pieces of the extrusion. Lay one down on the left hand wall of the template, and the other across the bottom. Get them as close as possible to the corner, allowing for the curved portion to blend. (see photos)
Now, you will need to make a template out of cardboard which will join the two extrusions, and match the radius. The piece of alumimum should go into the extrusion approximately 2 inches. It is actually pretty easy to make these templates once you get the hang of it.
Once you have the template, transfer the profile to the aluminum plate, and cut it out on a band saw.
What is very important is that it is a very close slide fit. The way to ensure this is just copy the dimension from the plastic pieces.
So, work your way around the outside, cutting the extrusions to length, and making the corner pieces.
It will be very easy to profile the alumnum pieces with a belt sander. If you don't have one, get a few good coarse files.
Once the pieces are all made, you should have a frame which exactly matches the cardboard template. The corner pieces should be a tight slide fit, so that the frame basically stays together, so that you can now test it in your companionway. Just make sure it easilly slides up and down, and the hatch slides over it, just clearing it.
Note that it won't be exactly symmetrical, so it will go in one way quite well. Mark this the inside, so you'll know how to put it in.
You will note tha the extrusion has a press-in channel for the screening & rubber gasketing. Make sure you don't mix up the pieces when you are designing the frame. i.e., the slot for the rubber gasket is always on the same side on all extrusion pieces.
Once you have the frame made, it slides in and out perfectly, and you are 100% happy, it is time to join the aluminum corners to the framing.
For this I simply drilled and tapped a single 8-32 screw at each corner. You won't need anything more than this.
Now comes the screen part. This will require a bit of patience, especially if you've never put in a screen before.
You have to cut the screen oversize, and using the tool that you can buy with the screen kits, carefully insert the gasketing in the extrusion slots securing the screen.
take your time, and ensure the screen is square. Be careful not to over-tension the screen, as it will bow the frame inwards.
At the corners, leave enough screening so that you can neatly lay down a thin film of 5 minute epoxy on the surface, just to tack the screening down.
Then trim the screen to the radius corners.
When you are done, you will have a perfect screen that will pop in and out in seconds, and you can insert if from inside or outside the cabin.
It easilly stores under the cushion in either the port or stbd aft cabin.
I know this might seem a little daunting, but it only took me 3 hours to make the whole screen frame the very first time. With this how-to guide, the right band saw and belt sander, you can easilly achieve that.
Any questions, just email me
a.boas@rogers.com
