new hatch needed

[USCG369]

have a mac Ven 21 I have been slowing rebuilding the wrongs that have been done to her over the years. I recently replaced all of the rails for the hatch and roof hatch. Now I had been using some lexane the I cut into the V shape for the front hatch cover, it has since warped and now needs replacing. I have been looking online for commercially made ones but I have seen recent boats that make them out of wood and they look great and seem to work vey well any ideas on what wood to use and how's the beat way to do it.

 

[caguy]

Teak would be the preferred wood. It will match the rest of your bright work, and will not warp. Teak is pricey though. Mine came with a molded fiberglass door. If I were to replace it I would probably use 1/2" aluminum honeycomb panels. Very strong and light. I would make it in two sections for easy storage.

 

[rgranger]

I think you are talking about the "door" that leads into the cabin. So my response is with that assumption. The proper term is "companionway entry". Not trying to be picky. It is just that you said "front hatch cover" and that would be a hatch on the deck of the boat.

There are many ways to skin this cat and what you choose to do will be more about what you want than what is "best".

If you are any good at fiberglass work, this is a very easy job. You can layup about 5 layers of 3 oz cloth on some visquene and when it sets, just cut it to the correct shape and paint it.

Many different woods can be used and if properly varnished will last a good while. But if I were doing it again, (or should I say the next time I do this) I will use the faux wood planks used for decking. That stuff looks nice and will never go bad. No sanding and varnishing at the end of each season. You will need to cut the edges at 45 so they fit tight and make the angle so that water would have to climb uphill to get through the "cracks". By having your companionway door in many pieces, you can store it easily when open. Stuff all the pieces in a "sock" and toss it up under the cockpit.

 

[caguy]

If you can fiber glass, I would use 1/2" foam board. It's available 4 x 8 sheet at Lowes for about $6. Its easy to cut and shape. Then give it a couple of layers of fiberglass. Do it in two sections and bevel the edge to keep the water out as mentioned above.
The faux wood also sounds good. Where do you buy them, Rgranger?
Good luck and take pictures.

 

[rgranger]

If you can fiber glass, I would use 1/2" foam board.

Good idea!!!!!!

I've read someplace that if you double the thickness you increase the strength by a factor of 8. So a foam core would give you a very stout companionway without a lot of extra weight.

Couple of things on that. If you are using styrofoam (the blue and pink boards at Home Depot and Lowes) you MUST use epoxy resin. The polyester resin at Auto Zone or WalMart will dissolve the polystyrene. On the other hand if you have access to extruded polyurethane foam, you can use the polyester resin.

As far a faux boards... I was refering to this stuff...

You can get that at Lowes or Home Depot and they have several grades, and colors to choose from.

I think from this point forward, anytime I replace exterior wood on one of my boats, it will be with this stuff. No more sanding and varnishing.

 

[finding41]

Umm. Abut that plastic wood stuff.... I'll try and remember to take a picture of it growing mold, or what ever it is, and post it Tuesday.
I'm not convinced its all that great a stuff. At least the stuff that has some wood in it.
Just plane old plastic (or what ever it is that doesn't have organic material in it.) looks like it works fine.

 

[rgranger]

Umm. Abut that plastic wood stuff.... I'll try and remember to take a picture of it growing mold, or what ever it is, and post it Tuesday.
I'm not convinced its all that great a stuff. At least the stuff that has some wood in it.
Just plane old plastic (or what ever it is that doesn't have organic material in it.) looks like it works fine.

I remember listening to one of those "Home Repair -- Mr Fixit" radio talk shows a few months back and he was talking about this. All of the early brands and some less expensive brands still on the market today have sawdust embedded in the plastic. That seems like a bad idea to me. The good stuff is expensive but you don't really need that much. And it is not as expensive as teek. One piece of 1" X 6' X 16" should just about cover all of the exterior wood on a boat. I think the next time I make grab rails, I'll definitely give this a try. And the companion way slides... ?

r

 

[caguy]

I remember listening to one of those "Home Repair -- Mr Fixit" radio talk shows a few months back and he was talking about this. All of the early brands and some less expensive brands still on the market today have sawdust embedded in the plastic. That seems like a bad idea to me. The good stuff is expensive but you don't really need that much. And it is not as expensive as teek. One piece of 1" X 6' X 16" should just about cover all of the exterior wood on a boat. I think the next time I make grab rails, I'll definitely give this a try. And the companion way slides... ?

r

Is there a grain when you cut or route it, or is the grain only on the surface?

 

[Sail123]

PVC lumber is only strong when it is bolted, screwed, fastened to something. A 1 x 6 section layed one on top of another would look nice, last forever, never need painting, stow easily in a bag stacked together, but would give very lite protection against someone kicking it in. Stuff is pretty flexible.

I am going to do the lower boards this way, as the span is narrower, and use a sheet of Plexiglas for the upper half to let in light.

 

[Sail123]

Is there a grain when you cut or route it, or is the grain only on the surface?

Grain illusion is usually just on one side as a design. Not really grain.

 

[rgranger]

This would make a great thread of its own.

"what have you done with faux wood?"

Anyway, merlinuxo had these pics on another thread... I put them in my DIY project folder for future inspirations. They are both made from that fake wood stuff...

And here is a link to a thread on plateake.

http://forums.sbo.sailboatowners.com/showthread.php?t=125420&highlight=faux+wood

 

[voltzwgn]

I too like the plexiglas / lexan idea as having a skylight seems like it would help open things up. My thought was to do a cover with them as a sectional thing as stated easy to store and then keep my fiberglass version for secuity when I really wanted to close it up. As I write this I'm thinking another nice thing about a sectional one would be that you could make the same section mulktiple times and have different features the first to mind would be one with a fan built in... you could swap solid for fan or maybe one with lights mounted.

 

[finding41]

Umm. Abut that plastic wood stuff.... I'll try and remember to take a picture of it growing mold, or what ever it is, and post it Tuesday.
I'm not convinced its all that great a stuff. At least the stuff that has some wood in it.
Just plane old plastic (or what ever it is that doesn't have organic material in it.) looks like it works fine.

Ok, here are a few pictures. It was dry and -2C and overcast when I took these. They look much greener when wet.
This is the product that has wood pulp in it.

 

[rgranger]

Ok, here are a few pictures. It was dry and -2C and overcast when I took these. They look much greener when wet.
This is the product that has wood pulp in it.

I get that black stuff all over my cars... do you have a lot of oak trees in your yard? If so ... it could be the tannins from the oak... and in the spring, oak trees rain down this mist of sap at night. You don't really notice it but it turns that ugly black color. The only thing I've found that gets it up easily is Greased Lightnings.

 

[USCG369]

I decided to go with wood to make my new compaion way cover. I am using three seperate pieces of 1x12 and coating them with stain and deck sealent. I have used the deck seleant and polyurathane. I am getting the wood measured ( eight times thanks to a very smart woman helping me on this project boat) and should be cut and ready to install in the next week or so. I will post some pics soon any advice is helping make my decisions and critisim is okay thanks for all the comments

 

[rgranger]

I have read n Don Casey's book that if wood is exposed to light, you should use varnish and not polyurethane. The polyurethane does not breath and in the hot sun moisture will form bubbles under the urethane and cause it to flake off. He recommends 6 coats of varnish on exterior wood. For wood used in the cabin, polyurethane is fine.

 

[USCG369]

That's helpful insight RGRANGER I didn't know that the deck sealent I'm using on it seems to work well. I have used this stuff on my other wood exterior for the last few years with great results. Does anyone know if more coats truly lasts longer or makes it stronger or if it's just a waste of time and money after a while. I recently found that fiberglass dosent need to be to thick or it makes it weeker as well.

 

[vizwhiz]

Some people make one of the "sections" of companionway with a window of bug screen in it so you can have airflow without concern over bugs getting in. They make a full board and cut out a window, or sandwich two frames around a piece of screen.

Down here, you have to use the tiny kind of screen that stops no-see-ums.

Also, check out this site for teak... http://www.thaiteakmarine.com/