Oh and those companionway hatch slides! Here they are off, by the way, they were screwed in from inside the cabin with machine screws, into the teak rails above deck. 5 screws per slide.
Here was what prompted me to do somethinb about them.
I bought 2 pieces of 1x2x39 inch black starboard to replace the 1.5 inch tall pieces of teak used for same... I can only get 1 inch tall stuff easily, so is what I went with.
I thought about using my table saw to cut a groove and almost did... I would have had to move the table guide 3 times, for 1/8 inch at a time to get wide enough of a groove for the hatch... then I thought more on the subject... I DO own a router, its just not a TABLE router. Well that isn't true either, they DO sell a table for it, I just don't have it... Solution? Make your own table! Turn the router over, screw it to a piece of plywood with a hole in the center... VIOLA table router!
The above shot is of the home made table router, but also with a test piece of 1" wide plank grooved with a 1/4 inch router bit. Turns out 1/4 inch isn't wide enough, as the tabs on the hatch aren't perfectly straight! go figure. If you look at this, you'll see how wide the original was, that's actually overkill wide too...
Top is the original, middle is 1/4 inch and bottom is a test with 3/8 inch... I tested the hatch with the 3/8 and it was more betterer.
Now to make a great solution (or mistake depending on your day):
I dunno I think it worked nicely no?
This isn't done by any stretch... these are just set in place... for testing. My aim is to drill 5 holes all the way through these starboard pieces, countersink the holes for proper stainless machine bolts. This will require NEW holes for the cabintop.. Because I'm going to bolt these on, not screw them. That means the holes in the cabintop will be overdrilled larger, plugged up with laminating resin, and dried, then REDRILLED... that also means I'll be filling in the old holes with laminating resin as well. Sucks but this is the price we pay to prevent core damage. I'll post pictures of all that, it'll look much more boring than these pictures of course because the repairs will be hidden but make no mistake, that will all be MORE work than this was.
Note too, that I have new black starboard pieces to replace the companionway hatch keepers too... so the hatch sliders, and keepers will all match. That won't take as long to install. I may also do that the same way, bolts, instead of screws (it may already be bolts though I haven't looked yet).
Anyway, that is where I am so far.
