replacing cabin sole at base of companionway with teak grating

[Tney88]

Greetings!  I'm thinking of replacing the cabin sole panel at the base of the companionway steps with a custom teak grating, so that there is direct drainage into the bilge when you come in from the cockpit dripping with water.  Any thoughts on this?

Terry Ney
Com-Pac 27 "Paradiso"
Veneta, OR _/) _/)

[deisher6]

Hey Terry:
I think that it would look good.  I considered doing this with Windrunner, however it was easier and quicker to salvage the existing teak & Holly plywood.

There may be two problems:  First getting the right taper on the edges of the grating so that it matches up with the surrounding fiberglass.  The second may be the unwanted odor(s) that would be allowed more free access to the cabin.

I cleaned and painted the bilge and keep it pretty well flushed out and empty, but it still smells, like.... a bilge.

regards charlie

[Tney88]

Hi, Charlie, thanks for the thoughts on it.  I'd be building the grating myself, so I can fit it up nicely to the surrounding plastic.  I had wondered about the smell issue.  My shower does drain into the bilge, and then gets pumped out with the bilge pump immediately, so that kind of keeps the bilge flushed out too.  And the little wooden inspection port that is there at the present isn't sealed, so any smells are going to make there way into the cabin anyway.  We sail in the Pacific NW, where most years it rains pretty often, so it's not unusual to come down the companionway pretty wet, and then the whole area between the galley and the head doorway gets wet, and then the admiral gets unhappy.

Regards,

Terry

[deisher6]

Hey Terry:
Getting it to fit level with the deck is easy enough to do, you will have to find a way to keep it there, possibly a similar arrangement as the original.  A grating with a removable grating in the center.  It is very do able.  You could also possibly just use a single grating and key it into dowels in the floor to keep it in place

I would like to see some flicks of the finished product.

Good luck

regards charlie

[redfishnc]

i really like the look and the function of grate.  i also remember all those little things that i drop in the bilge.  screen the bottom?