Cabin Door - Build or Buy

[robb_black]

So the cabin door (the wooden drop down door NOT the sliding hatch) is completely gone.  The veneer is peeling and it is unusable.  I made a very bad replacement to use last season knowing that I was only going to use it for one season.  Now the weather is getting warmer and I am starting to get the boat ready -- which means time for a new door.

Has anyone ever made one of these before from scratch?  I was just going to buy some marine plywood and cut out a new door (using the old door as a template) and then varnish, sand, varnish, sand, varnish, sand, ad infinitum.

OR

Would it just be easier for me to buy the door from Hutchins?  The most recent price list I saw posted on this forum has the door at $55 (give or take).

Any thoughts?

Thanks!

Robb

[Tim Gardner]

For $55 buy the door. 

$0.02

TG

[doug]

I bought a hatch from Hutchins. It was cut but unfinished. Either way you go make certain the angles are correct, I assumed what Hutchins sent would work (boat at the time was 150 miles away) so I spent the time sanding and painting only to find I need to cut the sides to fit my particular boat. A newly finished hatch really makes a difference in appearance.

[romei]

For the money, I'd buy one from Hutchins and finish it.  I treat mine with Austrailian timber oil.   

On this same topic, I had what I consider to be a  brilliant idea Sunday while I was working on my boat.  On the inside of my door there is an aluminum 1/2" angle frame about 14" x 18" that acts as a brace to hold the teak pieces together.  I flipped the door around backwards and slide it down and of course it slid in perfectly with the pretty side in and the frame out and that's when it hit me.  I'm going to cut a piece of 3/8" plywood to fit and install in the center of that frame and that will give me a backing to install a compass, a two or four place wood drink holder, and the holder for my handheld Uniden Mystic GPS/Marine radio.

This will be functional both when I'm in the cockpit and when I'm in the cabin overnighting, as I can flip the door and utilities to where ever I'm spending my time at the moment.  I've seen people mount a compass and other stuff on the cockpit side of the cabin wall, but I like to sit there and read while at anchor because of the high smooth back, so I don't want anything mounted there.

I'll take pics as I make it and share them with you.  I'll likely do it next month.

[mrb]

Check the current price and if any where near the 55 dollars buy.  Hard to get "GOOD" marine plywood now days.

[Brian 1851]

     I actually did what you were thinking of doing Robb.  Used my old cabin door as a template and gave myself an extra 1/16 of an inch all around and sanded it down until it seemed to fit right.  I put four coats of polyurethane on and it turned out better than I thought it would.  I have to admit that I had everything around my workbench that I needed, extra plywood and left over polyurethane.  If I had to go out and buy everything and then do it I still might because I like working with my hands and to see if I could do it.  Total time it took me to make minus drying time is about an hour and a half.  From what Doug said it comes unfinished so to get to that point it took 45 minutes to an hour.  Most of the time shaping the door to make it fit right.

[kchunk]

Hey Robb. A few months ago I removed all the teak from the outside of my 23 for refinishing. The drop boards were on the list too, but when I got to sanding them I found them just about un-refinishable. The teak veneer was stained so deep that I was sanding it completely off before the stains would disappear, so I decided to replace them by making new ones.

All I did was buy some plywood from Home Depot with a hardwood veneer (Don't remember what the veneer was, but I looked for the grain I liked). I finished it like I finished the teak on the boat, 3 coats of West System epoxy and 3 coats of Interlux Perfection varnish. Came out better than I could have hoped for. The epoxy completely sealed the plywood, so "marine grade" plywood isn't really necessary (I'm sure some will argue this, but I'm going with it). The color of the new boards finished doesn't match the teak, but the contrast actually looks good. If you want it too match better you should stain it first.

If you cut the board into two pieces (the drop board for the 23 is two piece) make sure you make the horizontal cut on and angle, like a scarf cut. This will allow rain to run off to the outside rather than into the cabin. Also, the top edge was cut with a slight bevel for the same reason.

Let us know how it turns out.

--Greg

[federalist]

For $55 I would buy the part from Hutchins.  The following prices are taken from the Sept. 2006 Hutchins Price List:

IN00D0080 DROP BOARD SMALL 16 $55.32 EA
IN00D0081 DRP BRD SM-SOLID TEAK $175.74 EA

If you want a permanent solution you can buy a sheet of Taco Marine Lumber and using your old hatch cover as a template, make a new one.  I did so for a Catalina 14.2 and it worked very well.  The product is not lumber at all, but a UV stabilized polymer that comes in a variety of thicknesses, colors, and sizes.   For example, a 24" x 27" x 1/4" sheet is $36.99.  You would have to measure your hatch to see if this size would work.  In any case if the $55 part works, it is a quick fix.  This material will not warp, delaminate or otherwise decompose.


The product is sold by West Marine and can be seen at: http://tacomarine.com/cat--Marine-Lumber--marinelumber.html

[Rick Klages]

Mine came with the companion way panels  (2) cut from "Starboard"  the fruit of the all weather plastics tree!

[Craig Weis]

I looked around and found a piece of scrap. It's amazing how large a piece one needs, and traced the old one, cut it, mitered it and then cut it in half on a 45 degree miter to direct rain to the outside for storage. See [Frappr link below]. Cetaol it on the out side and white paint on the inside and put the old hasp back on with a lanyard to grab to open and close the slider from inside.

Also on the fuel tank fiberglass cover I purchased a teak can and binocular holder from West Marine and over to the hardware store for four fasteners that are a wood screw on end and a machine screw at the other end. A hand full of stainless washers and nyloc nuts. Cetaled it up drilled holes and bolted the thing on to the drop-over-the-tank-cover. I did have to grind the binocular holes bigger and drill holes in the coroner of the wood box to let the water out.  skip.

[B.Hart]

   I like the idea of cutting the board in half, like skip said for easy storage, and adding a cup holder storage area, like romei talked about. Mine is now a piece of plywood painted.    BILL

[kickingbug1]

   hey you're a com-pac sailor----we fabricate

[B.Hart]

  I am currently using a snipe main sail (most of the sails that came with the boat are antiques like the boat, but at $165.00 new I couldn't pass it up to get the boat on the water) new sails are on the list when I get back to working.    HAPPY SAILING    BILL

[don l]

  I am currently using a snipe main sail (most of the sails that came with the boat are antiques like the boat, but at $165.00 new I couldn't pass it up to get the boat on the water) new sails are on the list when I get back to working.    HAPPY SAILING    BILL

We have a CP 16 ,  aaaahh, How to get a mainsail for $165.00.  If I am reading this right, the snipe main sail works on the CP 16? 

[Craig Weis]

My question as well.
I could not discern if the CP-16 main sail was once a main sail off of a Snipe
or the CP-16 Mainsail for $165 was made by a sail making company named 'Snipe'.
Always confussed. skip.