Companionway Hatch Slide

[John]

I'm seeking remarks from anyone that may have improved the smoothness of the main hatch when opening and closing it. Has anyone installed anything to improve this poor design on the CD. The rough fiberglass sliding on the gelcoat cabin finish is not my idea of a quality design on an otherwise fine boat. It would be nice to add teflon strips or something similar to the undersides of the hatch flanges to facilitate smoother operation. How about some ideas out there in Dory land?



riesimage@juno.com

[Jim Stull]

I'm seeking remarks from anyone that may have improved the smoothness of the main hatch when opening and closing it. Has anyone installed anything to improve this poor design on the CD. The rough fiberglass sliding on the gelcoat cabin finish is not my idea of a quality design on an otherwise fine boat. It would be nice to add teflon strips or something similar to the undersides of the hatch flanges to facilitate smoother operation. How about some ideas out there in Dory land?

John
I am in the middle of a major upgrade of a CD25. One of the changes made was to eliminate the binding when sliding the hatch. I removed the hatch and checked it with a long straight edge. There were two problems:
1. Possibly because of wear, the edges of the hatch which slide in the teak tracks were not of consistant width. One side especially was "out of square and was much narower on one end. This permited the hatch to twist when pushed and "jam" a bit.
2. The edge of the hatch which slides in the tracks was very uneven, (wavy when viewed from the edge), especially on one of the sides. This effectly increased the thickness in some areas and caused binding.

It required some fiberglass and West Epoxy surgery to make the sliding surfaces flat, square and level.
BTW I found that a long flat board covered with sandpaper effective in identifing the high and low spots on the hatch sliding surfaces.
The hatch now looks more secure and slides with a precision feel.
Jim



jtstull@icubed.com

[John]

I'm seeking remarks from anyone that may have improved the smoothness of the main hatch when opening and closing it. Has anyone installed anything to improve this poor design on the CD. The rough fiberglass sliding on the gelcoat cabin finish is not my idea of a quality design on an otherwise fine boat. It would be nice to add teflon strips or something similar to the undersides of the hatch flanges to facilitate smoother operation. How about some ideas out there in Dory land?

John
I am in the middle of a major upgrade of a CD25. One of the changes made was to eliminate the binding when sliding the hatch. I removed the hatch and checked it with a long straight edge. There were two problems:
1. Possibly because of wear, the edges of the hatch which slide in the teak tracks were not of consistant width. One side especially was "out of square and was much narower on one end. This permited the hatch to twist when pushed and "jam" a bit.
2. The edge of the hatch which slides in the tracks was very uneven, (wavy when viewed from the edge), especially on one of the sides. This effectly increased the thickness in some areas and caused binding.

It required some fiberglass and West Epoxy surgery to make the sliding surfaces flat, square and level.
BTW I found that a long flat board covered with sandpaper effective in identifing the high and low spots on the hatch sliding surfaces.
The hatch now looks more secure and slides with a precision feel.
Jim

Thanks Jim. I'm sure I'll discover similar uneven edges in mine after I remove the seahood. Excuse my temporary moment of loss of memory as the hatch does ride in the teak not against the glass. I've been in so many other boats lately I must be recalling one of them . As a matter of fact I think it was a Pearson that had the hatch riding "glass to glass". My CD was docked near the beach for quite awhile and there may be sand in the teak tracks compounding the problem. It's impossible to clean in there without removing the seahood.