Removing the sliding hatch at the companionway

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Jan 30, 2010
17
Islander 28 Bayview
I need to remove my sliding hatch above the companionway so I can replace the teak wood slides that it slides in. Does anyone know the trick to sliding the cover off prior to removing the old slides?

Thanks
 
Jan 24, 2005
4,881
Oday 222 Dighton, Ma.
I need to remove my sliding hatch above the companionway so I can replace the teak wood slides that it slides in. Does anyone know the trick to sliding the cover off prior to removing the old slides?

Thanks
I'm not really sure how the Teak sliders are attached to the top of your companionway hatch. Mine are attached with stainless steel wood screws. What you need to do is try to find the wood bungs and remove them without marring the holes. In his book, "Boat Carpentry" by Hervey Garrett Smith, Mr. Smith takes a small wood screw and cuts the head off it, and inserts it into an old fashioned wheel type brace to use as a drill bit. I suppose that you could use a small variable speed drill and take it real slow by drilling in the center of the bung. When the screw bit bottoms out on the top of the hidden screw under the bung, the wood bung should come up and out of the hole. I generally go a step further in removing bungs by using a miniature crafting chisel set to carefully clean out the hole.
Naturally, if you're intending on replacing the sliders you shouldn't be too concerned with the bung holes in the old sliders, or should you? I once bought a brand new Bomar forward hatch off Defender in CT and brought it down to the club to install it on my boat. When I got the old hatch off, I was going to throw it to the ground, but I didn't. When I set the new hatch over the opening, I found that the new hatch was a shade too small for the opening and I didn't want to Mickey Mouse it to make it fit. I wound up reinstalling my old hatch and bringing the new hatch back to them. I don't take anything for granted anymore. A couple of years later, I bought a used hatch off Rudy and used the good working parts off it to rebuild my old hatch. Today I still have the same Gray Marine Hatch and it works just as great as a new one. So even if you're not going to use these sliders again, it's a great idea to practice the technique of removing wood bungs without marring the holes. You may want to rework the inside of your cabin some day or remove a tow rail to fix a leak, and the experience will come in handy.
Once you remove all the bungs and screws, the moldings should come off pretty easy. When you get ready to put the new sliders on, you're going to need some bungs which can be purchased at most boat supply stores. Most of the bungs on my O'Day 222 are 3/8". Try to maintain the same direction of the wood grain of the bungs with the grain of the molding when you glue them back in. Just glue them and tap them in. After the glue is dry, cut off most of the bung with a sharp chisel leaving about 1/16" above the surrounding surface, and carefully sand the rest of the bung so that it's even with the rest of the wood. That's about it. If the sliders are held on with bolts, chances are you're still going to have to deal with the bungs anyway.
Joe
 
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Oct 2, 2008
1,424
Island Packet 31 Brunswick, Ga
good advice joe,
also the screws will be ruined when you drill in, so you will need new screws. I got my bungs from D & R marine, and my screws in bulk from jamestown distributors. If you are going to be doing a lot of work and replacement, you may want to get a screw gage from jamestown. it will tell you what size, thread count, ect any bolt or screw is, so you can order proper replacement.
When I put my rails back on, i filled the holes in the deck withe epoxy, after coring out the core around it, like is explained in Casesy "this old boat".
It sounds way harder than it is.
have fun
keith
 
Jan 24, 2005
4,881
Oday 222 Dighton, Ma.
No. The screws shouldn't be ruined Keith. We're talking about using a regular wood screw with the head hack sawed off, and when you screw it through the center of the bung, you're taking it very slow. I've never ruined a screw head doing this. Most of the bung can be taken out with a tiny wood carving chisel. The only thing that I might add to this is; a good polysulfide caulking should be added where the screws go into the cabin top.
 
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Sep 25, 2008
992
Oday 25 Gibraltar
I used the method Joe suggested but just used a screw and screwdriver.
It had varied results. Sometimes most of the bung came out or broke apart or nothing at all. I finished removing them with a long thin knife blade. Carefully. I think they were held in with caulking. My screws came out fairly easy.
I installed my new bungs with a small dab of varnish.
Like Joe said, cut off the bung about 1/8 to 3/16 proud of the wood. Reason being the grain of the bung might slope down into the hole if cut off to close to the surface. Then I chiseled the bung even.

Rich
 
Jan 30, 2010
17
Islander 28 Bayview
Thanks every one. I have a pretty good handle on this now. Great resource. I wish I would have asked sooner, because I applied several coats of Cetol already. Sounds like I will be doing that again after get done installing, chisling and sanding the bungs! I figured it would be the only way to get a good uniform coat of protection inside the area where the companion way slides. I did order the bungs at D & R. I like to support them because they have been a good resource as well.
Rob
 
Sep 25, 2008
992
Oday 25 Gibraltar
Are you taking off the companionway just to get to an area that you couldn't coat with Cetol? If they're made out of teak then I don't think it's necessary. Teak should last as long covered as not covered. A lot of work and trouble for nothing. Go sailing instead.

Rich
 
Jan 30, 2010
17
Islander 28 Bayview
go Sailing Instead!

No, am not removing the companion way just to get to an area I could not Cetol! The existing companionway slides were cracked and broken, with the last foot or so broken pretty good from foot traffic I suppose.

The reason I Finished the new parts before installation was so I could continue sailing until I made the switch! I am hoping with the slides finished it will be a 1/2 day project or so to take off the old and but in the new.
 
Oct 2, 2008
1,424
Island Packet 31 Brunswick, Ga
Re: go Sailing Instead!

thanks for the correction joe, i think i messed mine up by drilling out the bung first. when i tried to just screw in a screw, most of the time the bung would not break loose, so i used a drill bit to drill them out. why do you cut the heads off the screws, is that just to put them into the drill chuck? Or do you you reverse the screw so as to run it in reverse? seems like there would be an advantage to runnning it in reverse.
 
Jan 24, 2005
4,881
Oday 222 Dighton, Ma.
thanks for the correction joe, i think i messed mine up by drilling out the bung first. when i tried to just screw in a screw, most of the time the bung would not break loose, so i used a drill bit to drill them out. why do you cut the heads off the screws, is that just to put them into the drill chuck? Or do you you reverse the screw so as to run it in reverse? seems like there would be an advantage to runnning it in reverse.
Hi Keith!
The guy who wrote the book "Boat Carpentry" came up with the idea of using one small wood screw to remove wood bungs. Yes. he needed to fit the screw into the chuck of one of those old time egg beater type drills. I have one of those on my boat in my tool bag. Anyway, he goes on to explain that if you use the screw as a drill bit like you were going to screw it into the center of the bung, the screw will bottom out on the top of the screw head under the bung causing the bung to lift up. Sometimes this doesn't work and you have to wind up carefully digging out the bung with a miniature chisel. Years ago, my brother Bobby found this old antique chisel set in the barn of his work place and gave it to me. It looks like a fat screw driver with a chuck and the wooden cap unscrews and all the small chisels are inside of the handle. The screw cap has a round metal disk for pound on it with a hammer. I've been using this chisel tool for years. I haven't seen another one like it yet. It was probably used for carving small wood projects.
Joe
 
Oct 2, 2008
1,424
Island Packet 31 Brunswick, Ga
Hi Joe,, i havn't been on the forum in a while. pretty busy with summer, house, and yes, a bit of sailing. Hoorah!
The chisel "kit" sounds pretty neat. I would like to have time to browse through old shops and keep an eye out for those old timey woodworking tools.
hey, last weekend we had the catalina 22 race at our club. alot of boats came from other places. there were about 30 boats in the races. there was a silver, gold, and cruiser fleet. I crewed a silver fleet 22 that live at our club and is captained by a friend named jim.Jim is the current club champ, and has been for the past three years, so it was a blast to crew his boat (or a chore, not sure which yet). ha. It was a perfect race day, with the winds averaging a steady 15 with a few gusts around 22. there was just the occasional white cap unless you caught a gust. they kept that little boat on its side the whole day.!
boy was i running all over that boa;, we would tack and of course have all the hauling and winching that goes with that (watch out for those flying elbows!), then we would crawl to the high side of the boat and hang on the rail for about 10 minutes, then do it all over again. down wind was not much better as i had trouble with the fitting on his whisker pole. he had made a modification the weekend before that, unfortunately for us, had a barb on the fitting that kept hanging up the line....arghhhhh!. anyway, that cost us a little time. Also we missed a start horn and were not in the best starting position on one race. but we still came in second on all three races., we totaled a minute behind the first boat in our fleet.
Hi Keith!
The guy who wrote the book "Boat Carpentry" came up with the idea of using one small wood screw to remove wood bungs. Yes. he needed to fit the screw into the chuck of one of those old time egg beater type drills. I have one of those on my boat in my tool bag. Anyway, he goes on to explain that if you use the screw as a drill bit like you were going to screw it into the center of the bung, the screw will bottom out on the top of the screw head under the bung causing the bung to lift up. Sometimes this doesn't work and you have to wind up carefully digging out the bung with a miniature chisel. Years ago, my brother Bobby found this old antique chisel set in the barn of his work place and gave it to me. It looks like a fat screw driver with a chuck and the wooden cap unscrews and all the small chisels are inside of the handle. The screw cap has a round metal disk for pound on it with a hammer. I've been using this chisel tool for years. I haven't seen another one like it yet. It was probably used for carving small wood projects.
Joe
 
Jan 24, 2005
4,881
Oday 222 Dighton, Ma.
Hi Joe,, i havn't been on the forum in a while. pretty busy with summer, house, and yes, a bit of sailing. Hoorah!
The chisel "kit" sounds pretty neat. I would like to have time to browse through old shops and keep an eye out for those old timey woodworking tools.
hey, last weekend we had the catalina 22 race at our club. alot of boats came from other places. there were about 30 boats in the races. there was a silver, gold, and cruiser fleet. I crewed a silver fleet 22 that live at our club and is captained by a friend named jim.Jim is the current club champ, and has been for the past three years, so it was a blast to crew his boat (or a chore, not sure which yet). ha. It was a perfect race day, with the winds averaging a steady 15 with a few gusts around 22. there was just the occasional white cap unless you caught a gust. they kept that little boat on its side the whole day.!
boy was i running all over that boa;, we would tack and of course have all the hauling and winching that goes with that (watch out for those flying elbows!), then we would crawl to the high side of the boat and hang on the rail for about 10 minutes, then do it all over again. down wind was not much better as i had trouble with the fitting on his whisker pole. he had made a modification the weekend before that, unfortunately for us, had a barb on the fitting that kept hanging up the line....arghhhhh!. anyway, that cost us a little time. Also we missed a start horn and were not in the best starting position on one race. but we still came in second on all three races., we totaled a minute behind the first boat in our fleet.
Hi Keith!
It sounds like you had a blast in that race. I've raced a few times with my boat and it's pretty exciting. We no longer have club races. Just not enough interest in it anymore I guess. I can remember one race that I was in, the wind was so light that the boats were drifting backward with the current. I can also remember racing on a light wind day and I just kept an eye on my Windex. I had my crew radio the committee boat and ask them if my boat was moving. They answered and said yes. I really couldn't tell, we were just moving so slow. One of our club members has a Catalina 22 with a block and tackle set up on his back stay for adjusting the back stay. If I think of it, I'll take a picture of it and post it for you.
The wind has been very light out of the North for the last couple of days. I went out on Monday and sailed out to the bay and had to use my outboard a few times. We got back yesterday and it was so hot that I got a small heap of heat exhaustion. When I got back to the club, I sprawled out on one of the picnic tables and rested a while before unloading my boat. It looks like we have a mean storm coming this way on Friday, so I'm going back to the club today or tomorrow and remove my boom and Gennie and stick them in the cabin just in case I have to pull my boat out quick before a hurricane strikes.
Joe
 
Sep 25, 2008
992
Oday 25 Gibraltar
When the the wind dies down it can get fluky and capricious. You don't know where the the next little puff will come from. You can get what I call "god farts", where a volume of air drops down from above and the breeze radiates out in all directions. I've seen two boats heading towards each other, both on starboard tacks, and both yelling "starboard" for the right of way. Even though I'm a nonsmoker I used to keep a pack of cigarettes on board and when the air died, light one up to see where the smoke wafted. Saved me once at the end of a 30 mile race when the wind finally died and a competitor and I found ourselves sitting less than 100 yards from the finish line. We lit a cigarette and followed the smoke around and around and ghosted past the other boat to finish.

Rich
 
Jan 24, 2005
4,881
Oday 222 Dighton, Ma.
That sounds like a good strategy Rich. I gave up smoking back in the 1970s.
 
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