Companionway sliding hatch loose

[NewSailor]

I am in the process of purchasing a Cape Dory 25. The only odd thing I can turn up on a close visual inspection is that the sliding companionway hatch cover can fall out of its teak slide rails. Its almost as if the top of the companionway has "opened up" allowing the sliding cover to fall out of its track. Another way to look at this its as if the sliding hatch is about 1/2 inch narrower than it should be. I cannot find any cracks or sign of structural damage to the boat which tells me the companionway has not "opened up". Has anyone seen this problem?

[tartansailor]

Dennis,
This was discussed quite thoroughly several years ago when a pro rigged scissor like fixtures out of 4X4s' and squeezed the sides of the hull together, then fabricated bulkheads athwart the washboard area
to secure the squeeze.
That is what I meant when I suggested insuring that water flows away from the coamings.
There are a lot of good CD 25s out there, and in todays market, you can easily afford to be choosy, IMHO.

Dick

[trapper]

Gosh, Dennis,

It's a piece of teak molding or 2--if you can replace it yourself--not that big deal-- if you cant, find out the cost to fix and then negotiate your price.

I just bought a 25D with problems????? What an adventure! Good luck-- and buy a CD they are WONDERFUL!SAIL! SAIL!

[NewSailor]

If this is caused by the bulkhead becoming detached from the hull, how can I inspect this? Do I need to cut away the liner? If the bulkhead tabs have come loose, how much to fix?

[Steve Kuhar]

Dennis,

Dick seems to be confirming that the companionway opening has indeed opened up, and evidently has experience to justify his belief. I do not have, nor am I familiar with a Cape Dory 25 and in particular with the companionway construction details. That being said I have owned a CD25D for 26 years and I have a similiar situation. On the 25D an edge view of the hatch cover is L shaped, and the base of the L slides under the rabbeted edge of the teak trim piece. Over the years the teak has worn away, and since this is an area that naturally collects grit I suspect that the base and edge of the fiberglass L have also worn. The result is a lot more "slop" than when the boat was new. I can't lift my hatch out of the groove yet, but if it wears another quarter inch I may be able to. Anyway, hopefully that is all the problem that you have, in which case it will be an easy fix. If the problem is, as Dick suggests, a deformation of the hull and deck I agree with him, find another boat.

Steve Kuhar

[NewSailor]

Hows this for a possibility - could there originally have been plastic inserts in the slots of the teak rails that hold the hatch cover and allow it to slide? Plastic inserts may have taken up some of the "slop" I'm seeing, and could have deteriorated and been lost over time. It just seems like an awfully Micky Mouse arrangement to have a thin piece of fiberglass sliding in a wooden slot which is at least 1/4 inch wide.

[tartansailor]

Dennis,
Lets determine if and how much the boat in question has splayed out at the top of the dog house, at the companionway entrance, just above the wash boards.
The top of the dog house just above the wash boards (plastic to plastic) on my boat measures 24 and 7/8ths. inches.
The same measurement taken at the very front of the opening, again plastic to plastic right at the horizontal forward top end of the opening measures 24 and 1/4 inches.
That indicates to me that my front opening has splayed out 5/8ths. of an inch.

I can live with that, but what I do not like is the fact that water puddles at the coamings instead of flowing over board.

That I interpret to mean that because there is no bulkhead there, my deck has settled.

Now there are fixes well described way way back and I found that 2 years ago by doing a CD-25 search. That fix is scheduled when I retire again.
Best
Dick

[Dave Brandt]

This is not at all uncommon on the CD-25s. If you do a search you will find several write ups on it.

The problem comes from the lack of a supporting bulkhead under this section of the cabin / deck.

Some people have slowly jacked the deck back up and installed a structural bulkhead under it.

My boat had the same problem, I did not jack the deck up, but did install a supporting bulkhead under it and rebuilt the drop boards and slides to accommodate the new "configuration".

The problem can be fixed, but if you are looking for a ready to sail boat, you might want to keep looking.

Dave

[Will Wheatley]

One possible way to determine if there has been spread is to look at the companionway boards that close up the companionway. If they are loose in their slides, especially the top board then there is probably some spread due to settling. If those boards are tight and appear to be original then it is probably that your hatch cover slides are worn and nned replacing. I had to replace one of my hatch cover slides several years ago because it split. I had to get a woodworker to create one from teak stock but it cost less than $150.00 to get it done including buying the teak.

My CD25 suffers from a bit of settling but I have lived with it so far the only problem being water pooling by the coaming boards.

A search of the past posts will help but you have to take the time to sift through them to find what you need. If you search for author JimL you may find what you need. I have not seen posts from him lately but perhaps if you e-mail him he can send you pics of what he did.