Paint the hatch

[federalist]

The hatch on my CP 16 must have been painted at some point as it is weathered.  I would like to lightly sand and apply new paint.  Any ideas on how to match the color?  I thought about removing the hatch and taking it to a paint store or Home Depot, but thought I would ask the board for better ideas.

[Steve Ullrich]

The teak veneer on the companionway board is pretty thin and easy to sand through. That is probably what happened and led to painting your board in the first place.  You could sand and repaint it easily enough, that is surely your cheapest option.  I put several coats of Cetol Marine on my hatch in spite of the fact that a previous owner had sanded through to the plywood in a couple of spots.  I really don't like seeing that plywood there though and have thought of painting it.  Another option I'm strongly considering is cutting a new one myself out of Starboard.  You can get it at West Marine, here is the link:

http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/producte/10001/-1/10001/53129/377%20710/0/starboard/Primary%20Search/mode%20matchallpartial/0/0?N=377

The advantage being that you won't ever have to paint or refinish it. If I do it I'll use the old board as a pattern.

The hatch on my CP 16 must have been painted at some point as it is weathered.  I would like to lightly sand and apply new paint.  Any ideas on how to match the color?  I thought about removing the hatch and taking it to a paint store or Home Depot, but thought I would ask the board for better ideas.

[Pat McL]

Hi Steve,  I cut a piece of smoked lexan as a spare, and am very pleased with it. Will only use the wood one (marine plywood replacement) so I can lock the rig with no internal visibility.  --- Pat

[Steve Ullrich]

Pat,

Can you see very much through the smoked lexan anyhow?

Hi Steve,  I cut a piece of smoked lexan as a spare, and am very pleased with it. Will only use the wood one (marine plywood replacement) so I can lock the rig with no internal visibility.  --- Pat

[federalist]

Steve,

I am sorry as I was not clear.  I am interesting in painting the hatch cover (fiberglass) that slides back and forth on the deck.  My hatch door is marine lumber, but I am thinking of making a new dropboard (split as a 2 piece setup) buy new from Hutchins.  I just bought the teak slides for the dropboard and hatch as well as a new tiller - Hutchins had a better price for exact cuts than did West for lumber by the foot.

Last boat was a Catalina Capri 14.2.  I made a new dropboard for it from Taco Marine Board.  Its great material.

Thanks,

Ray

[Craig Weis]

That would be that you wish to paint the companion way [sliding hatch] hatch and not the drop board witch was teak faced plywood from Com-Pac Yachts.

My fiberglass sliding companion way hatch came painted a grey color inside so to brighten up the inside I removed the hatch by unscrewing the rails from the inside and lifting off the the side-rails, using a little heat from a paint stripping gun to loosen the 3-M 5200 used by the factory to seal the screw holes and washed and dried it and painted the hatch bright urethane white. And also painted the the inside of the drop boards that I cut in half [for better storage and better utility] with urethane white.

On reassembly some JB Weld putty was jammed into the screw holes of the rail moments before the side sliding rails were screwed back down capturing the companion way hatch. A little 'Harkin Sail Glide' jizzium shot under the sliding hatch works well here.

My drop board rotted a way over the years and so I used a 'huge' piece of plywood and traced the pattern, cut her out and scarfed the top into a very nice bevel for a swell fit under the companion way hatch.
I sanded her smooth, put on two coats of spar varnish then three coats of Cetal right over the varnish. Then waxed it up to bead off the dew. The probable source of the rot.
skip.

[Pat McL]

Steve,

You can see through the smoked lexan from inside to outside quite well, and the shade factor is nice. I wanted to be able to duck into the cabin, close up and not feel trapped and blind (rain etc.). Works great for that. From outside, takes a bit to see in, but if close to the dropboard, one can see in well enough. Of course if lit at night, the cabin interior will be quite visible. I like the way this looks and works, and have used this exclusively over the last season. --- Pat

[Mike H.]

Hello Pat (and everyone else...)  I like the idea of a smoked lexan companionway hatch (I'm sure there's a proper name for it, the vertical plywood) and would like to add this to my CP16/2. I've seen this on a variety sailboats and like it.  Like you stated, when camping out or riding out a rain storm it would be much better than being sealed in behind plywood.  I've not started looking yet but thought I'd ask here first, where did  you get the Smoked Lexan for this project? 

Thanks, Mike

[Pat McL]

Steve,
I picked up the lexan from a window glass dealer-installer local to us here in Eustis (Fl). Bought a sheet large enough to do two hatch boards in case I want to mess around a bit with it. Ryan, (my son), will probably snatch the excess as he has a mid-'80s 16/2. --- Pat

[Steve Ullrich]

Pat - I like the look of smoked lexan in place of the plywood hatch board/drop board... Was the lexan spendy? I'm not terribly concerned about being able to look through it if you get your face up against it.  I keep my boat in the garage anyhow, except for occasional outings like the one I took with NateD to Mille Lacs.  I'm going to make a screen drop board for my CP/16 before I ever spend any time inside of it overnight as I'd probably need the ventilation.  I may never do that anyhow as I am 6'1 and 215lbs.  I layed down inside, just to see if I could, but rolling over isn't easy... 

Steve,
I picked up the lexan from a window glass dealer-installer local to us here in Eustis (Fl). Bought a sheet large enough to do two hatch boards in case I want to mess around a bit with it. Ryan, (my son), will probably snatch the excess as he has a mid-'80s 16/2. --- Pat