New doors to match my new hatch

[Bigjim]

A friend with a Catalina 36 has hinged doors they use in port. The doors have windows and hinges that allow you to remove the doors while sailing. I liked them so much I decide to build a set for my own boat.

It took several attempts to get them perfect, but I think that they are exactly what I wanted. I built the doors out of red oak, using polycarbonate windows with a tinted overlays. The hard part was finding all the hardware.

All the wood is coated with 3-4 layers of epoxy resin and then varnished.

[Bigjim]

Here are a few more photos:

[LittleWing77]

Wow! Gorgeous! Do they have internal louvred shades? (That's what it looks like from here.) Really fantastic job.

I'd be tempted to keep them in all the time, but then I'd be sure to be bashing myself on the handles non-stop!

Well done,
LittleWing77

[Fishbust]

Nice work!

[Orion Jim]

The physical structure of red oak makes it porous and therefore able to soak up water and rot. Be certain to stay on top of the surface finish maintenance.
Your workmanship and the design are very nice. Good job.

[coopec43]

Originally Posted by Orion Jim

The physical structure of red oak makes it porous and therefore able to soak up water and rot. Be certain to stay on top of the surface finish maintenance.
Your workmanship and the design are very nice. Good job.

I'd worry about that too but the fact that he says "All the wood is coated with 3-4 layers of epoxy resin and then varnished" maybe that won't be a problem. (Nice work BigJim)

I have spent (too much) time on my cabinetry making sure all the gaps were uniform but in not too much time the gaps were irregular. I couldn't understand why but an expert explained that wood is "alive" and changes shape with temperature/humidity. (When I get around to it I'll glue some narrow strips of timber to the edge of doors to cover the gaps so they won't be noticed)

[LittleWing77]

Originally Posted by coopec43

...an expert explained that wood is "alive" and changes shape with temperature/humidity.

Interesting side note: which is where our cultural habit of knocking on wood came from. As pagans, the Druids believed that trees had spirits and when in distress, one would knock on wood to call for their assistance.

Cool, eh?
LittleWing77

[coopec43]

Originally Posted by LittleWing77

Interesting side note: which is where our cultural habit of knocking on wood came from. As pagans, the Druids believed that trees had spirits and when in distress, one would knock on wood to call for their assistance.

Cool, eh?
LittleWing77

Interesting!

The Dark Origins of 11 Classic Nursery Rhymes

https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/...nursery-rhymes


SORRY BigJim!!

[ArmyDaveNY]

Great job. Roughly how long did it take you, including the various adjustments?

[Fiftybucks]

please post the source where you found the hardware. beautiful, and i need similar but for Cat 350

[Captain Anthony]

Will you make a set for my Tartan 37? Do you have internal louvers? If yes, where did you locate them? Where did you find all of the hardware? How did you install the doors while leaving the companion way board slot it place?

[finefurn]

I'll second that request for the source of the hardware

[daddio862]

Looking very sharp! With the finish I would think they will look great for a good while. Now I need to get off my butt and start laying out a set for myself. I'll echo the request for hardware info. Imitation is a form of flattery isn't it?

[Bigjim]

Originally Posted by LittleWing77

Wow! Gorgeous! Do they have internal louvred shades? (That's what it looks like from here.) Really fantastic job.

I'd be tempted to keep them in all the time, but then I'd be sure to be bashing myself on the handles non-stop!

Well done,
LittleWing77

One adaptation I'm considering is adding magnetic catches on the doors so that they won't bounce around in a seaway. The doors are so much easier to use when getting in and out of the cabin. The other advantage is that windows allow you to keep an eye on the cockpit.

[Bigjim]

Originally Posted by ArmyDaveNY

Great job. Roughly how long did it take you, including the various adjustments?

Ha, ha, with or without the mistakes?

The final set of doors took about 10 hours total over about 5 days, including resin and varnish and not counting the waiting between coats of each.

I have a table saw, miter saw, drill press and router. I don't think you can do this without access to an accurate table saw and miter saw.

The hardest part is matching the angle of the companionway. I screwed this up at first. I used an Johnson T-bevel to capture the angle at first.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Johnson-...-100353824-_-N

Mine was 5 degrees. I set this angle in my miter saw and cut the wood pieces to length. But my first mistake was that I did not check the angle AFTER gluing the pieces together. The first set of doors looked great. Everything seemed fine, but when I put them in the hatchway there was a 1/2 inch gap on either side at the top of the doors. Arrghh!

Since I had glued them with thickened epoxy, there was no way to disassemble the doors. I checked the angle with the T-bevel and saw that I was about 1 degree off. Had I checked the angle when gluing, I could have fixed this simple, stupid error.

The mistake I made on the second set of doors was cutting the slots for fitting into the side boards. I set my saw blade too deep and the finished doors were now too narrow. Arggh. (Measure twice, measure again, then check your measurement, then cut)

The third set I screwed up cutting the pieces. I forgot to allow for the overlap of the doors. Arghh.

The fourth set are the one in the photos.

The one huge suggestion I can give is to first build a full-sized template out of plywood or MDF that fits the opening perfectly. Fit this template into the opening until it is perfect. This will save you tons of time and hopefully catch your errors before you make them permanent.

Look carefully at the opening and everything about it. One thing I did not notice at first was that every surface of the opening was angled, even the surfaces of the drop board slots. Nothing was 90 degrees. On my 4th set of doors I added this extra bevel on the edges of the doors and that was great.

Also, making doors that use hinges adds another issue. The sides of the doors act like drop boards and when closed, they fit into the side boards. BUT, if the edges extend all the way to the sides of the opening, the doors will not have enough clearance to swing open! I had to cut about a 1/4 inch off the ends and then round over the edges so the doors would swing without binding.

There are no louvers or airways in the doors yet. I may add one to the bottom drop board. If you look carefully at the doors, there is very little room in any of the pieces to add vents or louvers.

The wood is fitted together using tongue and grooves. I tried using dado blades to cut the tongue and grooves, but it was too hard to get these to match every time. At the end, I just used a simple table saw blade and made multiple passes. This gave me the best accuracy and repeatability.

I will post the sources for the hardware in another comment below.