Cruising World – August 2019

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73

While repairing a leaking companionway hatch, a DIYer does away with his irksome

weather boards. BY ROGER HUGHES

2 BUILDING A NEW FRONT DOOR

RO

GE

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HU

GH

ES

PROJECTS

F

or some time I had

planned to repair and

modify Britannia’s front door,

or to use the more-correct

nautical term, companionway.

The hatch housing leaked,

allowing rainwater to seep into

the plywood sliding top and

causing it to delaminate. My

wife and I were also heartily

fed up with the two heavy

washboards used to close the

opening. When in place,

the two teak boards complete-

ly blocked all light through the

entrance.

First the hatch-housing leaks

needed sealing, then the hatch

itself needed to be repaired. I

also had an idea about how to

be rid of the washboards and

improve companionway access.

Sealing the cracks in the

large teak housing was easy

enough. I sanded off all the

old varnish, fi lled the cracks,

and then rolled on four coats

of Cetol Marine Natural Teak

from Interlux. The Natural

Teak is a brownish color, and I

think it enhances the deep col-

or of teak. More important, by

not sanding between coats, it

created a nonslip surface in an

area where I frequently stand

when working at the mast.

The large sliding hatch had

been built as a permanent

structure. By that, I mean

it could not be taken out

without one side of the slider

guides fi rst being removed. It

came as no surprise to fi nd the

guides weren’t just fastened

with self-tapping screws like

90 percent of the rest of the

boat, but rather they were

bolted through the fi berglass

deck with ¼-inch bolts, whose

nuts were encapsulated in the

fi berglass underside.

Down below, I had to

remove part of my new saloon

ceiling panels to be able to chis-

el the resin off around the nuts

before I could hold them with

vice grips to unscrew them.

To make matters more

challenging, the hatch frame

was built so that I couldn’t

reach all the fasteners. I had to

cut the guide in half with my

oscillating saw before I was

able to lift the hatch out. Who

was it who said, “Working on

boats, one job leads to anoth-

er”? Oh yes, it was me!

I lugged the deceptively

heavy hatch to my workshop,

where I dismantled it by drill-

ing out the wooden plugs and

withdrawing the long stainless

self-tapping screws holding

the four sides to the top.

The top was made of ½-inch

marine plywood with another

¼-inch teak-faced plywood

sheet glued on top. The layer

of teak had rotted and was

beyond repair, but the ½-inch-

thick base was still good,

except for some delamination

around the edges. I wanted to

reuse it to save having to curve

a new sheet into the same

shape. Using screwdrivers as

levers, I pried open the edge

laminations, one edge at a

time, then squirted wood glue

into the seams. I then clamped

the panel in my woodworking

bench vice and left it to dry.

The next question was what

to replace the rotten wooden

top with?

Having dismantled the

hatch, I made short work of

the fl aking varnish on the solid

teak sides and stringers with

my belt sander.

I then took all the parts

back to the boat because I

wanted to see if it was possible

to make the hatch slide farther

into the housing, to give more

companionway headroom. I

also wanted to sand and varnish

the companionway surround,

which was now much easier to

get to with the hatch removed.

By trial and error, I found

I could cut 2 inches off the

back of the hatch so it would

slide that much farther into

the housing, and provide more

headroom. The hatch was then

carted back to my workshop

for modifi cation, reassembly

and fi nal fi nishing.

At Lowe’s I bought a sheet

of fi berglass paneling made

by Crane Composites (crane

composites.com). It’s a little

more than^1 ⁄ 8 -inch thick but

very strong and completely

waterproof and mold-proof.

One side is dimpled; the

other smooth, so I used the

smooth side uppermost to

match the surrounding deck.

This would waterproof the

top and probably be stronger

than the original plywood. I

glued the fi berglass sheet to

the plywood using Loctite

Power Grab adhesive, a type

of waterproof glue suitable for

fi berglass and wood. After the

glue set, I trimmed the new

top fl ush with the edges of the

renovated underpanel.

Luckily, the underside of

the original ½-inch plywood

panel that I was able to reuse

had a teak-veneered face, so

I carefully sanded this before

reassembling the hatch.

I reattached the hatch trim

pieces with waterproof wood-

working glue and fastened

them using the same stainless

screws I’d taken out. The orig-

inal assembly appeared not to

have been glued, which I think

allowed water to seep into the

end grain of the plywood. With

its fi berglass top and glued

sides, that won’t happen again.

To fi nish the job, I sanded

the side trim fl ush with the

new top, and then glued 28

teak plugs into the screw holes

and sanded them fl ush. As an

added touch, I ran a molded

edge along both sides of the

top using my hand router.

After masking the top

panel, I applied a coat of Cetol

The fi nished job is a great improvement, giving more head-

room, and effortless access in and out of the companionway.