Improving sliding hatch C27

[Jon_E]

Hi all,

The sliding main cabin hatch on early Catalina 27's was not the best design. The hatch is designed to either be held up by the teak trim or rubs on the fiberglass rails. Whatever... neither holds up with time.

When I look at the hatch designs of boats of other manufacturers, most seem to have a steel rail system. This allows the hatch to slide easily but not too easy, and will support a lot of weight from people walking on it.

I am curious if anyone has made an enhancement to their Catalina 27 sliding companionway hatch, and if so, what have you done?

J

 

[caguy]

I've considered putting some nylon or Teflon pads for it to skid on. In fact I came across a couple of hundred of them in the garage I didn't even know I had. I'm anxious to see what others have done as well. The way it is now, I hate the gritty sound it make when I slide the hatch. A coat of Woody Wax makes it a little better, temporarily. Come to think of it I have some a toilet ring bees wax on board that may last longer.
Thanks for bringing the subject up. It not only applies to Catalinas but I think most vintage sailboats. I know my old Mac was the same way.
BTW what is the name of your boat so I can wave hello?

 

[Merlin Clark]

I had the same issue with my old Morgan and made rails out of Starboard that are mounted to the slider and rails out of aluminum that mount to the cabin top inside the slider tracks.
Probably would have been better with angle instead of flat stock aluminum as they move side to side but better than before. To keep things together I glued everything with 4000 (what I had on hand) and countersunk phillips machine screws.
You can see my "fake" trim in these pics pretty well!

 

[jimg]

Ditto on the bad design opinion. I haven't done any modifications on mine, but I have found that Surf Wax works quite well on the hatch sliders. It's waterproof, cheap, lasts a long time, and you can get it pretty much anywhere in SoCal. I got my last Mr. Zogs at a 7-11.

 

[caguy]

Ditto on the bad design opinion. I haven't done any modifications on mine, but I have found that Surf Wax works quite well on the hatch sliders. It's waterproof, cheap, lasts a long time, and you can get it pretty much anywhere in SoCal. I got my last Mr. Zogs at a 7-11.

You talkin' Sex Wax? Good idea!

 

[jimg]

That's the stuff!

 

[Jon_E]

BTW what is the name of your boat so I can wave hello?

The name is "Rainbow's End", but it is not visible. One of the previous owners painted over it. I'm torn between putting it back and risking bad luck by renaming her.

I'm over on "D" basin.

 

[Joel H.]

This winter I re-glassed my hatch flanges because they had worn quite thin. Then I remade the wood rails so the bottom wood of the rail is wider and completely supports the hatch flanges (I read about doing that here). Added to that I've always used Dupont spray teflon/wax. The whole thing came out great and now hatch slides like it's on bearings.
Sorry no pics
Joel H.

 

[Jon_E]

This winter I re-glassed my hatch flanges because they had worn quite thin. Then I remade the wood rails so the bottom wood of the rail is wider and completely supports the hatch flanges (I read about doing that here). Added to that I've always used Dupont spray teflon/wax. The whole thing came out great and now hatch slides like it's on bearings.
Sorry no pics
Joel H.

Hi Joel - I've been thinking of the same thing. My flanges aren't just thin, but cracked and bent on one side requiring reglassing. When you remade the wood rails, what kind of wood? Teak? I imagine pieces that long must have set you back a few digits.

Caguy mentioned nylon rails which appealed to me, but the teflon may work just as well. After reading your post, I was on the DuPont website looking at Teflon sprays. Which one do you use? There are several products that look like it would work.

http://www2.dupont.com/Consumer_Lubricants/en_US/products/lubricants.html

 

[Donnybrook]

My hatch slides directly on the gelcoat. I installed Japanese Glide Tape to the cabin top. It is 3/4 in wide plastic with adhesive back. Hatch moves with the effort of one finger and is quiet.

http://www.apsltd.com/p-135-japanese-glide-tape-34-x-26.aspx

 

[Joel H.]

Hi Joel - I've been thinking of the same thing. My flanges aren't just thin, but cracked and bent on one side requiring reglassing. When you remade the wood rails, what kind of wood? Teak? I imagine pieces that long must have set you back a few digits.

Caguy mentioned nylon rails which appealed to me, but the teflon may work just as well. After reading your post, I was on the DuPont website looking at Teflon sprays. Which one do you use? There are several products that look like it would work.

http://www2.dupont.com/Consumer_Lubricants/en_US/products/lubricants.html

Attention Purists: Cringe alert!
Also note: This is a fresh water boat!

A friend of mine is a woodworker, he made my rails using White Oak, (he asked $20.00 for material). I painstakingly Cetol/stained them to match the rest of my britework. This was the difficult part because White Oak will not absorb enough stain. So, I also used the teak colored Cetol between the first couple of coats of varnish! It took some experimenting to get the technique down so as not to have the cetol eat the varnish but they actually came out excellent,(Though, anybody who knows, will know they're not teak). My friend thinks the sun will fade the color, soon. So we'll see. I'll give an update at the end of the season. If it lasts three seasons before I would want to redo them I'll be happy.
The can of Dupont spray says "Mult-use dry, wax lubricant".

 

[Joel H.]

My hatch slides directly on the gelcoat.

http://www.apsltd.com/p-135-japanese-glide-tape-34-x-26.aspx

That's definitely not stock. You have a pic?

 

[Joel H.]

I embarked on this repair because I was actually afraid that things were so worn and loose that my hatch could be dislodged or lost overboard under extreme conditions.
Between the rebuilding of the fiberglass flanges and the newly designed rails, I couldn't be happier with the results.
It would take an exploding A4 to lose that hatch now! LOL.

 

[Jon_E]

A friend of mine is a woodworker, he made my rails using White Oak, (he asked $20.00 for material). I painstakingly Cetol/stained them to match the rest of my britework. This was the difficult part because White Oak will not absorb enough stain.

Interesting. I've long suspected think the stock rails are not teak, though they might be. The grain doesn't look teak. When I bought my boat all wood trim was ash gray from years of neglect in the sun and salt so hard to tell what it was originally.

The treatment followed pretty closely what Don Casey (This Old Boat) prescribed in his boat maintenance books.

• Acid wash to remove carbonated oils from the wood,
• A healthy dose of teak oil followed by a week in wrapped in paper to try to put some "good" oil back into the wood.
• First coat of varnish was a light coat cut 50% by mineral spirits
• Successive coats being thicker (less oil, more varnish), until the final coat was 10% oil and 90% varnish.

I did that for all the wood and it looks great.

Since then, I've always wondered if it was really teak. If it isn't too much trouble, could you post pics of your white oak rails? I'd like to see what they look like esp. next to your other wood trim.

 

[caguy]

The rails on the C27 were in pretty good shape, just required some stripping sanding and revarnished with clear Cetol with the same Casey method. However the rails on the Mac 25 were a mess so I remade them with mahogany that the wood shop teacher gave me. I did the compainion way slides as well so they matched. I used clear varnish on them and the turned out great. They very closely resemble teak.