Ideas for crib boards

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A

Alan

Hey there maties! After all summer of upgrading everything in sight (short of my own looks) I've finally decided to replace my crib boards and some of the other teak onboard. I plan to buy the wood directly at Home Depot or another supplier. My question refers to the width (since I'm certain I'll need three crib boards), the type of wood, and the final finish which would work best. Additionally, since the winter months are close upon us, does anyone out there have any plans as far as cabin upgrades, i.e. storage, stove, etc.? I hope to use favors from my carpenter pals while the days pass by this year. As always, any information you folks could supply would be greatly appreciated.
 
D

Dan

Make patterns

from the old ones. I'm not certain what a crib board is either, but if the boat already has them, save the old ones for making patterns.
 
R

Randy Kolb

Crib boards are

the three or four part "doors" to the cabin. By the way Catalina Direct sells replacement crib boards made of teak or plastic.
 
B

Bayard Gross

Save your crib boards

Re-do your crib boards by installing a temporary cover over the compainonway with a single sheet of plywood. Measure the thickness of your crib boards to determine the thickness of plywood that you will require. The using the boards as a guide, cut out a single piece of plywood to temporarily replace the crib boards while you take the crib boards home to work on them in your leisure. Making up your own new crib boards would require extensive milling and wood working in order to get the pieces to fit together properly and entail endless hours just to get them properly fitted. Really not worth your effort when the old ones can be brought back to new. Personally, I would sand down the crub boards and then apply several coats of epoxy resin epoxy (not the cheaper polyester resin epoxy) and then coat this with many coats of a good marine grade varnish such as Z-Spar. The epoxy will waterproof the wood and the varnish will give the epoxy UV protection. Note that the side edges of the crib boards that fit into the grooves of the boards that hold them in place should only receive about two coats of epoxy and two coats of varnish otherwise they may become too thick to fit into the grooves. Been there. Done that. So be prepared to do some last minute sanding on these edges. Don't worry about damaging your work as the grooves and the boards will hide the edges. And regarding the previous two responses regarding just what crib boards are, they are the boards placed more or less vertically that cover the companionway leading into the cabin. Usually there are three on most boats. As for the origin of the name crib board, I speculate, but do not know, that these borads were originally used to keep small children in the cabin, or in their "crib". In fact, I think they are still used for that purpose today.
 
B

Brian

Oh...Ok, Yeah I need those also

I have already obtained some nice wood and will make a new set after I finish my bottom job. I don't think it is going to be too hard to make them but one must consider all angles (punn intended).I will make my set four pieces in order to stow more easily. Good luck
 
A

Alan

Wish I still had them...

When I purchased this old boat last year there weren't any crib boards nor alot of deck hardware so I've been busy refurbing the whole thing. At the moment I'm using a temporary piece of plywood which works but it's a pain to store. Arent three boards the usual norm for this or am I wrong? Seems like a 2X12 or 2X10 would suffice, if not then something large enough to cut to size. Time to get out the old pencil and tape measurer. Ahhh!!!!
 
A

Aldo

How can I help?

Alan, What do you want? How can I help you? I did remake my hatch boards about 12 years ago. I purchased the teak from a local specialty wood supplier. Another way to put this is that I spent ~$100 for just the wood to remake my hatchboards. This may have included $20 for planing the wood to the exact thickness. They have gotten this "lot" charge from me several other times, before I realized what they were actually doing. If your friends have a planer, you could save this charge. Bayard, my original hatch boards were made from teak plywood. When I picked up my boat from the dealer, new, I already knew that the hatchboards were going to need replaced. I had repaired them a few times, with epoxy, but after about 10 years, they were just completely garbage, and I only used them in the winter, when the boat is under a thick "truck tarp" cover, (not one of the blue tarps). The thickness of the plies on the original hatchboards was VERY thin, especially on the faces. (I do still have the original hatchboards). I remade my hatchboards to be the same size as the originals in thickness and all the angles, but I made mine from solid teak, not plywood. It's been a long time since I made them, but I do remember as Bayard mentioned, that there was a good amount of fitting involved, especially the top one along the sliding hatch. I mostly have hand tools, like a circular saw, and router, but I also have a fixture that I use to hold my circular saw, and I am relatively sure that I used that to get the angles correct. If you aren't that concerned, you might be able to just use a saber saw for the side angles. If your friends have a large table saw or large band saw, making them would be easier. (When I say large, I mean with a large table). What kind of wood did you have in mind? If it's not teak or mahogany, or some other wood that can take the marine environment, you are just wasting your time, and you really would be better off just buying a set of hatch boards, maybe even a plastic set. That's my opinion. I do keep my hatchboards under a naugahyde cover, that snaps onto the snaps from the pop-top cover, plus two snaps that I added onto the rails that the top sliding hatch slides on. Mine look fine after about 12 years, but I think that a pouch for them is probably a good idea. Mine now get more abuse just sitting inside the boat while we are sailing, (from being rubbed by the whisker pole and boat hooks), than they do from the weather. Anyhow, if you want the measurements just reply and I will measure mine for you. I don't know if it's me, but working on the boat is a little different than working on a house. I think it's because there are so many curves, and almost nothing is square. This comment applies to the hatchboards and the fitting that you will have to do to get them perfect. Aldo
 
B

Bayard Gross

Crib board sizes

The actual size of crib boards varies over the different years of C-22s. So what fits well on one boat, may not fit so well on another boat. Not to mention that slight variations in the molds of boats made at the same time, can also have an effect on crib board sizing. So, you may or may not be able to use another's measurements. You must compare exactly what you have exactly what else you may use.
 
H

Herb

I would make a template

If I was in your postion I would use a piece of cardboard to make a template of the entire hatchway and then after I had the side to side fit correct then I would divide the heigth down into 3 to 4 pieces and make the final version out of a solid wood. This would work for me as my wood shop is 5 miles from the boat and a pattern cust down on the trail fit trips. Teak is great but is very pricey. I do not think that plywood would have a thick enough finished surface to allow you to sand out the dings that will happen over the years. so i would go with a solid wood crib board. Finally I created a cheap version ( pine) of the bottom crib board finished it in cetol and then cut a 4 inch by 8 inch hole in the center. I then covered the hole with vents ( Like from a house foundation) on both sides . It looks good but allows for more ventalation for when I run the propane heater at night. You need more air than a closed hatch would allow when you run the heat at night. I put it in place and then put the 2 nd and third ones in to complete the hatchway. Fianlly I made second one out of pine to place in the hatch when I am underway in the event of a knock down it would slow down any flooding in the cabin while the drains caught up. (I put a cup rack on the outside to hold the crews beverage. )I hate to leave my teak ones inplace with everyone climbing in and out. The pine one takes a beating but my teak ones are safe in their storage bag. Again just one persons idea. I am sure that there are as many ways as there are sailors to get this done and really there is not one correct method. What ever works for you and your situation.
 
T

tomD

Hatchboard construction

If you are making your own hatchboards you have the opportunity to do a few extra things: some folks have made them with screen windows for bug free ventilation at night, others have put cupholders on the bottom hatchboard for libation while under way. If you have an artist in the family, you can go with scrolls, picture, name, woodburning. Making two hatchboards lets you get them in and out quickly, putting in the top one without the bottom one is nice on a rainy night with a heater on below. I would say clear your mind and get creative. Theya re in such a busy part of the boat, they should work for you.
 
A

Alan

Thanks Aldo

I got the dimension of my crib boards today while sailing with my wife and grandaughter. Oddly enough, Catalina Direct makes the exact same size boards but at $300.00 for teak. I will plan on purchasing an 1X10" 8' piece of mahogany and work from there. The only thing I didn't figure out yet is the angle on each end of "3" crib boards. The height of my hatchway is exactly 30", henceforth the 1x10". If you no the angle or measurements of each piece's angle, I would surely appreciate it. Next spring, we'll be seeing a finally and completely refurbished 1970 Catalina 22! All new wood and freshly painted! Now, if I could just find plans for a stow away galley...hmmm.
 
J

jeff

galley plans

I have plans for the slide-out galley in jpeg format. Email me off the list and I'll send them to you. Jeff caydreamin@yahoo.com
 
B

B.J.

Board Angles

Alan I've built a couple of sets of boards for my boat including some new side rails for them. If you have the measurements of the boards, all you'll need is the max width of the top board and the min. width of the lowest board to figure out the angle of the ends. I'm sure there are some of the contributors that can whip out a geometric formula that would give the angles in a heartbeat, but this is how this ol' country boy did it. I made a full size pattern in the process. Lay out a piece of stiff paper(brown wrapping ?) or cardboard approximately 36" square. Up 2" from the bottom and using a straight edge, draw a line across and parallel the bottom. Mark the center of the line and draw a perpendicular line to the top of the paper. Measure up this perpendicular line to 30"(the height of your boards)and draw another line from this point perpendicular to the vertical line and parallel to the lower line. On this new line, measure off and mark HALF of the upper board's max width on each side of the vertical line. Repeat the procedure on the lower line using the lower board's min. width. Just connect the new marks on the left side and right side and you have established the angles for each of the boards. DON'T cut this pattern you've just made into three, nice 10" pieces and cut your boards from them: there are some 'forgotten' angles. You're going to want to cut the bottoms(and the top of the center one) of the boards at an angle to produce a 'shingle effect' to keep them from leaking in between. Assuming a 1/2" board cut on a 45* angle you will lose at least 1" of overall height of the board assembly or, in other words, your boards' heigth will only be 29". Using 10" boards and,again assuming that they are a full 10", you will have to add an additional 1" piece the either the top of the top board or the bottom of the bottom board to get your full 30". Since you're getting an 8' piece of stock you should have plenty of extra to do this. I would dowel and edge glue to the top board. Only after the lap angles were cut would I then stack the board blanks as if they were installed, lay on the one-piece pattern, mark the end angle cut-lines, and then cut the boards. Probably a round-a-bout way to get there, but it works.
 
A

Aldo

Alan, just a couple of notes...

Alan: I didn't get to take any measurement yet, but I will. Anyway, I just want to highlight a few things that B.J. said in his message. Have you ever seen a set of C-22 hatchboards? As B.J. said, there is an angle on the top and bottom board. These angles help the boards seal better against the threshold for the bottom board, (and with about a 1/16 inch gap), approximately match up with the board on the top sliding hatchway. Also, I don't think that 1x10s actually measure 10 inches across. I think that is part of the reason that the teak boards that I purchased were so expensive. Another thing is that the boards have rabbets cut onto the top and bottom edges of them, (except for the top of the top board, and the bottom of the bottom board, as discussed above), that creates the shingle effect that B.J. mentioned. This is important for keeping the rain out, and it will also take away from the width of the boards that you purchase. If you haven't seen any other C-22 hatchboards, I'll check-out my old ones and see if they would be good enough to send to you, or just take some photos of the ones that I made and send them to you, or upload them here. I do think that B.J.'s idea of making a template from cardboard is a good one, because I don't know that the angles are exactly the same, on each side of the hatchway, or the same from one boat to another. I used my old hatchboards as the templates for my new ones, except for the top one that I trimmed to get the top exactly the way I wanted it. Aldo
 
B

Bayard Gross

I never had that angle on my top crib board

Well, as in the old proverb that no two C-22s are ever alike, I guess some C-22s have that angle on their top crib boards and others do not have that angle on their top crib boards. At least on my "factory" crib boards it is that way. While the bottom does have an angle, which requires some tricky measuring to reproduce, the top was cut straight or at a right angle to itself. I find that permits the cabin hatch to sort of "snap" up and over the top crib board making the inside edge rest firmly against the top crib board. I considered putting in that angle on the top crib board when I replaced my crib boards, but I like that "snapping" shut feature, so I cut it straight as the originals. But I guess, each to his own. Although we all like to keep rain out.
 
B

B.J.

You're right.....

I may have been misunderstood or, more likely, didn't make myself clear. There is no angle on the top of the top board; it is square. There are angles on the top of the two lower boards to mate with (1)the angle of the bottom of the top board and (2)the threshold. I cut the laping angle at a 45*. To make the lower board/threshold angle, I used an adjustable square held flat on the threshold and adjusted the leg to match the angle of the bulkhead. I set that angle into my table saw to make the cut. I've made sets with just angle cuts and with rabbets and really can't see any difference in function. It's just more trouble to measure, set up, and cut rabbets
 
A

Aldo

Photo of Hatchboards

Alan: Here's a photo of my hatchboards that I measured. Please excuse their appearance. I haven't cleaned and oiled them in a few years. I do keep them covered with a naugahyde cover, and you can see that water still apparently gets to the lower hatchboard. If you want me to send the jpg file to you of the drawing that I posted on the previous message, (so that it won't be compressed and so that you can print it), send a message to me at aa.camacci@comcast.net. You can see from the drawing some of the tweaking that I did, as the top hatchboard is a little shorter on the right side than on the left side. I didn't realize that the top board was narrower than the other two. I guess that that happened because I tried to copy my old hatchboards, and they were in really bad shape when I copied them. If I were to make another set, I would make them all closer to the same width. I do think that the rabbet joint would be better than a bevel at keeping the rain out. Aldo
 
A

Alan

Thanks Aldo!

I got your drawing however, your 2nd photo did not post. In any case, I appreciate your help and concern. Plans are in the work...
 
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