Let me be more specific. I'm needing to replace the teak companionway boards. I guess that I'll have to go with lexan. Can anyone give me some guidance on how to approach this task?
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Lexan
I use both teak and Lexan. Use the Lexan in the summer when I am actively sailing the boat, and use the standard teak hatch boards when I close it up for the winter.
I use both teak and Lexan. Use the Lexan in the summer when I am actively sailing the boat, and use the standard teak hatch boards when I close it up for the winter.
A quick comment. Why do so many companionway boards come with vertical grain ends? This is much weaker than continuing the horizontal grain in the center of the board. A good stomp will break the end pieces in cracks parallel to the grain. Unless there is a strange lack of long boards they should not have glued-on, vertical-grain ends. No excuses.
I recently replaced the companionway boards with some tongue & groove boartds that I bought from PlasTeak. The T&G eliminates many of the bevelled cuts required.
Garry, they would warp
The reason the ends are pendicular to the horizontal boards is that when the boards get wet on one side, they can warp. I made my replacement teak hatchboards from 1/2 inch solid teak, to replace the teak plywood ones that came with my boat. (Those looked cheap from the day I picked-up my boat at the dealer. My new ones don't have boards on the ends, and I have seen them warp when they got wet and were covered. I have a naugahyde cover on them, and when I added the handle to the sliding hatch, it leaked water on the outer side of the boards, and they warped, until they dried out. I sealed the cover for the handle, so now my boards stay dry and no longer warp. But that's the answer to your question. Aldo
The reason the ends are pendicular to the horizontal boards is that when the boards get wet on one side, they can warp. I made my replacement teak hatchboards from 1/2 inch solid teak, to replace the teak plywood ones that came with my boat. (Those looked cheap from the day I picked-up my boat at the dealer. My new ones don't have boards on the ends, and I have seen them warp when they got wet and were covered. I have a naugahyde cover on them, and when I added the handle to the sliding hatch, it leaked water on the outer side of the boards, and they warped, until they dried out. I sealed the cover for the handle, so now my boards stay dry and no longer warp. But that's the answer to your question. Aldo
For Aldo
Won't wash! The majority, 75% or 80%, of the board's length is still horizontal grain and they don't warp (at least mine never have). Why should a 100% horizontal grain board warp when an an 80% board doesn't? It won't. Not only that but if the horizontal grain warps one way the vertical grain sections should warp in a way perpendicular to the rest of the board. Mine on several boats don't do that either. Your boards must have warped for some other reason. In fact, when wood swells it swells the least in the along-the-grain direction so the excuse that it prevents binding in the slot is also bogus since the boards with vertical grain are actually more likely to swell in the slot. I really think it is just penny pinching by boat builders. It saves teak (in small amounts) to rip the diagonal cuts in a narrow board and glue them to the ends of a board with straight cut ends and never mind the inherent weakness. It shouldn't be allowed!
Won't wash! The majority, 75% or 80%, of the board's length is still horizontal grain and they don't warp (at least mine never have). Why should a 100% horizontal grain board warp when an an 80% board doesn't? It won't. Not only that but if the horizontal grain warps one way the vertical grain sections should warp in a way perpendicular to the rest of the board. Mine on several boats don't do that either. Your boards must have warped for some other reason. In fact, when wood swells it swells the least in the along-the-grain direction so the excuse that it prevents binding in the slot is also bogus since the boards with vertical grain are actually more likely to swell in the slot. I really think it is just penny pinching by boat builders. It saves teak (in small amounts) to rip the diagonal cuts in a narrow board and glue them to the ends of a board with straight cut ends and never mind the inherent weakness. It shouldn't be allowed!
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