Guidance repairing teak companionway sliding hatch

[klb67pgh]

The original teak companionway sliding hatch for my E25 was badly damaged and delaminated beyond repair (but I have what is left of it). I was fortunate enough to acquire the hatch from campuscab's E25 - I recall it was a 73 or 74. It has some damage but I think it is very usable.

The new to me hatch is missing the fore end of the hatch. There is just a bit of the wood still attached to the hatch that I'll need to remove. I started to clean up the joints on each side to see what I was working with. The primary obstacle I have is there are stainless screws protruding through the plywood hatch that would have gone into the fore end, but there are no bungs at all in this hatch. Would the hatch have been constructed and then a final teak veneer applied to the top of the hatch? That's the only way I can figure out how those screws were located there. Can anyone confirm my findings? My hatch from my '78 E25 was constructed differently with a base layer of plywood and then strips of teak and seam compound between them.

I am planning to carefully remove what is left of the fore piece of the hatch, cut off the stainless screws flush, and then fabricate a new fore piece from used teak I have. Do you think I can get away with just adhesive of some sort (epoxy, polysulfide, something else?) to bond the fore piece and the plywood top, or will I have to install some screws down through the plywood into the new fore piece? Assuming the latter, do you think I will be able to cut holes in the plywood to accept teak bungs, and that the ply will do okay around the bungs? Obviously installing bungs into solid wood would be much better, but I don't have that here. Or perhaps I will just need to live with exposed flat slotted wood screws? That would certainly facilitate installation and removal for maintenance in the future.

There are a few splits in the teak veneer - you can see one was "repaired" with a white substance of some sort. I plan to carefully extract that and replace it with something teak colored before I varnish or oil the hatch. Not sure which substance I'll use.

Also, the contour of the hatch is pretty good, but there is a flat spot where my chisel is laying in the last pic. I expect I'll improve the shape when I install fore piece of the hatch, but do you have any advise or techniques I could use to reshape the hatch closer to its original shape? I considered cutting a few arcs to match the shape and trying to steam that area and place the hatch on the arcs and then put car batteries on the area to try to reform it. Thoughts?

The pictures are after my initial cleaning of the hatch (still wet) and before I have removed the old varnish from the underside of the hatch.

 

[Christian Williams]

I would probably fix up that ragged edge and then cover it with a "decorative" strip of teak, epoxied down (wipe with acetone first).

A variety of woods in small dimensions is available at https://www.rockler.com/wood/exotic-lumber , among other online places.

I used it to make a car-seat organizer like this:

 

[bigd14]

You might consider adding a light layer of fiberglass cloth to hold everything together, or at least epoxy saturate everything to help prevent future water damage. The fiberglass cloth would essentially disappear once installed leaving the wood grain showing through. Perhaps a heavier fiberglass cloth could be placed on the underside coupled with strategically placed weights to help reestablish the original contours.

 

[gabriel]

The original teak companionway sliding hatch for my E25 was badly damaged and delaminated beyond repair (but I have what is left of it). I was fortunate enough to acquire the hatch from campuscab's E25 - I recall it was a 73 or 74. It has some damage but I think it is very usable.

The new to me hatch is missing the fore end of the hatch. There is just a bit of the wood still attached to the hatch that I'll need to remove. I started to clean up the joints on each side to see what I was working with. The primary obstacle I have is there are stainless screws protruding through the plywood hatch that would have gone into the fore end, but there are no bungs at all in this hatch. Would the hatch have been constructed and then a final teak veneer applied to the top of the hatch? That's the only way I can figure out how those screws were located there. Can anyone confirm my findings? My hatch from my '78 E25 was constructed differently with a base layer of plywood and then strips of teak and seam compound between them.

I am planning to carefully remove what is left of the fore piece of the hatch, cut off the stainless screws flush, and then fabricate a new fore piece from used teak I have. Do you think I can get away with just adhesive of some sort (epoxy, polysulfide, something else?) to bond the fore piece and the plywood top, or will I have to install some screws down through the plywood into the new fore piece? Assuming the latter, do you think I will be able to cut holes in the plywood to accept teak bungs, and that the ply will do okay around the bungs? Obviously installing bungs into solid wood would be much better, but I don't have that here. Or perhaps I will just need to live with exposed flat slotted wood screws? That would certainly facilitate installation and removal for maintenance in the future.

There are a few splits in the teak veneer - you can see one was "repaired" with a white substance of some sort. I plan to carefully extract that and replace it with something teak colored before I varnish or oil the hatch. Not sure which substance I'll use.

Also, the contour of the hatch is pretty good, but there is a flat spot where my chisel is laying in the last pic. I expect I'll improve the shape when I install fore piece of the hatch, but do you have any advise or techniques I could use to reshape the hatch closer to its original shape? I considered cutting a few arcs to match the shape and trying to steam that area and place the hatch on the arcs and then put car batteries on the area to try to reform it. Thoughts?

The pictures are after my initial cleaning of the hatch (still wet) and before I have removed the old varnish from the underside of the hatch.

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My experience is that teak doesn’t bond very well to epoxy—I tried to epoxy together my forehatch a few times but it kept coming apart. I finally screwed it all together with some 3” decking screws I had laying around.

I completely remade my companionway hatch from 1/2” and 1/4” plywood using parts of the old hatch as templates then simply painted it white. I made it a little longer so when closed it would overlap the companionway boards from rain. Took about two week a few hours every afternoon including pre bending the 1/2” plywood cover/cap/roof.

 

[Christian Williams]

Scrub teak surfaces with acetone first. Don't clamp tight, it's epoxy, not glue. It works, although certainly not for structure, and as you say, if there's to be heavy duty, screws too.

 

[Loren Beach]

Epoxy bonds well to teak, for me. First sand the surface with some 80 grit, and clean with acetone. And as Christian points out, clamping will not necessarily help.

 

[Pete the Cat]

You might consider adding a light layer of fiberglass cloth to hold everything together, or at least epoxy saturate everything to help prevent future water damage. The fiberglass cloth would essentially disappear once installed leaving the wood grain showing through. Perhaps a heavier fiberglass cloth could be placed on the underside coupled with strategically placed weights to help reestablish the original contours.

Problem with fiberglass is that it needs a good coating to block UV or it will flake and destruct. A good varnish will delay this but once it starts you will need to go back to bare wood and start over. Paint will protect fiberglass. Varnish will eventually break down.

 

[Pete the Cat]

That hatch looks to be in relatively good condition to me though it needs to be completely stripped and sanded more down to 220. You might want to add a strip of some wood to cover the lip, but I would fill the structural cracks and lay on about 8-10 coats. I rebuilt the hatch on my Folkboat in a similar way and it came out beautifully.

 

[klb67pgh]

That hatch looks to be in relatively good condition to me though it needs to be completely stripped and sanded more down to 220. You might want to add a strip of some wood to cover the lip, but I would fill the structural cracks and lay on about 8-10 coats. I rebuilt the hatch on my Folkboat in a similar way and it came out beautifully.

Yes, there is no delamination in the plywood at all - it's solid. It's just missing that forward piece (not sure what to call it) for some reason. I need to remove what's left of it which shouldn't be too bad. I'll need to figure out a way to cut the rabbit into the new curved piece for the plywood to sit on - not sure how I'll be able to do that yet. The corner joint shouldn't be too bad. I'm planning to make a practice piece out of poplar or something similarly cheap, and then make the final piece from the teak I have once I figure out the fabrication process. I've grabbed various used parts from 3 different sailboats now and each time brought home some teak and mahogany wood and parts for next to nothing, figuring I'd use them later for a project like this.

There was varnish on the outside of the hatch at one point, as its varnished underneath the pad eye I removed. But the varnish is long gone from the outside now and will need little work before finishing - just a bit of sanding now that I've used the teak cleaner. The inside will strip easily with a heat gun I think. I may end up painting the underside off white if the wood is stained too much or just for ease of maintenance. Still haven't decided if I'll varnish the outside or oil it - I won't leave it grey, as the rest of the exterior teak on my boat is gloss varnish. I'll probably varnish it.

 

[Pete the Cat]

Yes, there is no delamination in the plywood at all - it's solid. It's just missing that forward piece (not sure what to call it) for some reason. I need to remove what's left of it which shouldn't be too bad. I'll need to figure out a way to cut the rabbit into the new curved piece for the plywood to sit on - not sure how I'll be able to do that yet. The corner joint shouldn't be too bad. I'm planning to make a practice piece out of poplar or something similarly cheap, and then make the final piece from the teak I have once I figure out the fabrication process. I've grabbed various used parts from 3 different sailboats now and each time brought home some teak and mahogany wood and parts for next to nothing, figuring I'd use them later for a project like this.

There was varnish on the outside of the hatch at one point, as its varnished underneath the pad eye I removed. But the varnish is long gone from the outside now and will need little work before finishing - just a bit of sanding now that I've used the teak cleaner. The inside will strip easily with a heat gun I think. I may end up painting the underside off white if the wood is stained too much or just for ease of maintenance. Still haven't decided if I'll varnish the outside or oil it - I won't leave it grey, as the rest of the exterior teak on my boat is gloss varnish. I'll probably varnish it.

Be careful with "teak cleaner". It raises the grain and makes keeping varnish intact very difficult. Much better to go through stripping all the varnish off with a stripper and sanding with progressive grit of quality sandpaper to 220 or so--then tack cloth carefully and apply varnish as directed. If you take your time this can last a long time. It is one of those tasks where a hurry up job is a waste of time and effort--as I learned the hard way.

 

[Christian Williams]

Photos mislead, but there is something about the coating on the hatch. It's lumpy and dull. I wonder if it was painted with epoxy, or treated with CPES. The answer will be pretty obvious when starting to sand it, and maybe is pretty obvious already.....