Advice please on attaching trim piece

[Frank Langer]

Hi,

I would appreciate your advice on how best to attach a piece of wood trim. The problem that I'm solving is that the companionway hatch boards sit too low and leave about 3/16" space between the top board and the hatch slider. So I want to place a thin trim piece on the base below the bottom hatch board--ie. the hatch boards would rest on this trim piece, raising them 3/16" to close the space at the top.

I'm not sure how best to attach the trim piece to the fibreglass. I would like to avoid screws as it would involve more holes in the boat, and the screws would be visible (I'm not very good at woodwork to add teak bungs, etc.). I'm thinking of spreading some Sikaflex 291 or similar adhesive, positioning the trim piece, adding a weight on top, and when dry sealing the crack between the trim and the fibreglass with caulking which would also help with adhesion (I'm pretty good at caulking). My worry with this approach is that I'm not sure the adhesive will be sufficiently firm to hold the trim in place and keep it from wobbling, especially if someone were to kick it a bit on entering the boat.

Any better ideas, but still keeping it simple?

Thanks,
Frank

 

[footrope]

Could you add a trim piece to the top hatch board? I was trying to imagine what the top board must look like, but it would seem to be reasonable to put an attractive strip on top. You would avoid the holes in the boat and the kicking hazards, and be working wood to wood, which epoxy can manage quite well, along with other fastening solutions.

Maybe you wouldn't have to relocate your latch or hasp, either?

 

[Frank Langer]

I considered adding the trim to either the top or bottom hatchboard, but when I put it in place as a test, it didn't look very good--it looked like a patch. However, when I put it under the bottom hatchboard, on the boat, it looked like an extension of the existing teak piece that's already there, and looked good. So I think that's the right solution, if I can attach it firmly, so it won't wobble or move, especially if someone steps on it there as they're coming up from below, or entering the salon area.

Thanks, though. That remains a back-up option if I can't secure the trim in my preferred place.

Frank

 

[Sven]

Frank,

If you add it to the bottom, how much of a threshold does that leave behind the hatch ? You don't want water running down the front of the boards to leak under the bottom board onto the spacer and down into the cabin. I suspect the threshold is more than what you are talking about adding.

Since the trim will always be under compression I'd just glue it in place with a bit of epoxy.


-Sven

 

[Glyn Judson]

Adding a trim piece.

Frank, I wonder if it would work for you to add the trim piece to the underside of the sliding hatch? It'd be hardly noticed and if so, certainly no more than if you added it to the companionway. You could glue it in place using a staple gun to hold it while the epoxy cured, remove the staples, hit it with a few coats of varnish and nobody would know that it was anything other than original. Hey, make it thicker than you need and sand or plane it to a perfect fit. Let us all know how you finally do it. Glyn Judson, E31 hull #55, Marina del Rey, CA

 

[Frank Langer]

Well thanks for giving this so much thought. Sven, there is no likelihood of water coming into the boat, as the hatchboards sit against a piece at the bottom that's about 1/2" thick, and the trim that will sit right in front of that piece is only 3/16", and this area is angled slightly downward, so water will run away from there.

Glynn, the bottom of the sliding hatch cover has a piece on it that's slightly rounded, and I'm not confident that I could make the trim piece fit right on it. I have few tools to work with, and my woodworking skills are limited.

But thanks for your thoughts so far--keep them coming!

Frank

 

[Loren Beach]

Boards and Shapes

I probably have missed a vital detail and therefore do not fully understand the problem... but that has never slowed me down much in the past!

If you want to "raise" the total height of the hatch boards so that they make a better seal against the bottom of the sliding hatch, then the angle of the sides must be factored in. When the drop boards are raised, they fit more loosely because of their trapazoidal outline.
Since the advent of the production FRP boat in the 60's, most of these have this shape, i.e. the sides of the cabin entry are not parallel.
Now, there are older designs where the sides are parallel, and old salts will maintain, and rightly so, that such geometry is much safer for offshore voyages.
In most of our boats, as you raise the "duck boards" (love that old term) they only have to rise about a couple inches before they come loose from the sides.
The virtue is that for everyday ingress/egress it is a lot easier to insert or remove those boards, and also that humans are wider above their knees than below... :nerd:

So, after all that hatch board trivia, I say that if they fit tightly now, you need to add some height at the top-most board. Added complication: that top board may not be ruler-flat on its top... our present and prior boat had some crown on their top boards...

IF it is flat, just edge-glue a 3/16 strip of teak with epoxy and refinish the board. If the top is curved, you would edge-glue a pre-shaped piece that matches the curve, after planing the top flat.
Kind of "fiddley" work, but not dificult.

Sidebar: having gotten tired of chasing our stock set boards around the boat when tacking, I built a lightweight one-piece board out of FRP and honeycomb coring, and then built a little set of clips to store it flat on a bulkhead inside out head compartment. Later built another similar one-piece board for a friend's 31 footer.

Interesting how these little projects can eat up your time.... but satisfying when completed, too!


LB

 

[Greg Ross]

Filling the Gap

While reading down thru the Thread it was Glyns' reponse that seemed the most logical solution. Putting down a wood strip with no fasteners sounded a bit dodgy.
My 31s' companionway hatch has a rubber strip/ slot in that rear lower edge. If it's the gap you wish to deal with, why not try a piece of self-adhesive weathestrip on the underside of the hatch. Simple effective and out of sght.

 

[Frank Langer]

I thought this might be a quick fix/simple solution, but you guys have me thinking so hard my brain is hurting! I'm still trying for a simple, elegant solution that won't look "tacky" or be susceptible to easy breakage.

Glynn's idea would be good if I had good tools and knew how to use them--eg. a planer, router, etc. I do have a sander and a drill, but that's it. Greg, I think weatherstripping would be effective, but wouldn't look the way I want it to.

When I get to the boat tomorrow, I'll re-check the shape of the wood piece on the underside of the hatch to see if I could effectively attach the wood trim there to fill the gap. Otherwise, I think I'm still back to putting it on the fibreglass bottom.

No one has suggested any kind of adhesive other than epoxy to attach this trim. Is there something else that would be equally effective?

Thanks again for all your ideas on this.

Frank

 

[Greg Ross]

The Simple Solution(s)

Quote;
"I thought this might be a quick fix/simple solution"
Well, you've already dismissed that!
Here's another idea;
You've described the gap as being 3/16". I presume you've got the typical three board companionway set-up? Three boards, which equals two lap joints in between. You need to lift that stack something close to 3/16" so,
If you added a contrasting/ or alternately, a complimentary colored strip of wood 3/32" thick to either the nose or the notch of two boards, the combination of added height would close the gap (and whatever's left, try the weather stripping!)

 

[Frank Langer]

Thanks for that idea, Greg. I'll take another look at it when I visit the boat tomorrow. I have lots of ideas now, so I'll see which looks like the best approach. I'm a bit surprised that no one has made any suggestions about gluing the trim piece to the fibreglass as I initially thought would be best. I think there must be alot of woodworkers among you all!
Thanks again!
Frank

 

[Martin King]

Your best band aid will be putting it on the glass at the bottom
of the companionway. Trying to screw around with glueing it on
to the boards ain't ever going to look right, even if you manage
to do so. Jacking up the boards should get you close, but don't
count on the gap at the top being even. You may still have to
do a little planing to get it tight. The factory frequently got
sloppy here.


.

 

[Frank Langer]

Thanks, Martin. I have done a trial with the trim piece in place on the fibreglass and the hatchboards in place, and it looked pretty good--not an exact fit at the slider above, but pretty good. So I know that it will be ok if I can secure the trim to the fibreglass. I will still check the other options when I'm at the boat tomorrow, but in the meantime I'm still not sure what the best method would be to attach the trim to the fibreglass if I decide to go that method.

I know that the most secure method would be to drill a pilot hole in the fibreglass and screw the trim in place with three or four screws and try to fill the screw holes to hide the screws. I would prefer just to glue it in place, but I'm not sure it will be enough to hold it firmly in place.

Thanks again.
Frank

 

[Martin King]

You could probably just clamp it in place. Get a couple of bar clamps
with enough reach. You will most likely need a little block or something
to get up and over the threshold. West epoxy should do the trick.
No need to shoot any screws.

Course, you could just make a new drop board

 

[u079721]

Been there - done that

I did EXACTLY this project on my E38 right after I bought her as part of refinishing the hatch boards. I chose to add some extra wood to the bottom of the bottom hatch board, rather than mount something to the boat.

Went to a local wood shop and had them mill me a teak strip that was 5/32" (or maybe 3/16"?) thick, about 1 inch wide, by a few feet. I then sanded the bottom of the bottom hatch board and degreased it with acetone, and glued the strip in place with West System epoxy, using lots of borrowed clamps. I didn't cut it to length, but left it long and a bit wide. Once the epoxy cured, I trimmed the peace to length, and sanded the end and side edges to match the contour of the board as it rested in the hatch slot.

My final step was to sand the outside surfaces of the hatch boards and coat them with 6 or so coats of Sikkens Cetol, with extra coats on the added strip at the bottom of the bottom hatch board. I only coated the outside surface, not the inside, which I left oiled.

The result worked perfectly, allowed the sliding hatch to mate perfectly to the top hatch board with almost no gap, and was just about invisible unless you knew where to look. Granted I was in the fresh water Great Lakes, with only a few days of sun a season (only a slight exaggeration....) but the glue joint showed no signs of deterioration after 10 years.

Good luck!