Lighten Up the Cabin

This was an easy project and really lightens up the cabin.

I used a piece of 1/2 inch smoked polycarbonate with AR rating (abrasion resistant). I finish cut the piece on the table saw and rounded the edges with the router table. The sliding hatch cover had to be removed and re-bedded and was easily done. The new sliding hatch needs a stop to keep it captive undet the hatch cover. The material supplier recommended using bushing with the screws into the poly. The other light weight poly hatch board replacement is from 1/4 inch material also cut with wood-working tools.
It is framed with 3/8 inch teak.

Material came from Multicraft Plastics in Portland, OR.

Before and after pictures attached.

Steve Jones
Edgewalker, Olson 34, Hull No. 1
Longview, WA

Very Nice!!

Steve:

I love the look, thanks for posting pictures. Yesterday I started making a new hatch for my E-25 and was thinking about which material to use in the frame (different style hatch then yours), and now I think the smoked poly would be a good look.

Any idea how to make a sliding cover that is curved like the ones on the Mark III boats?

Mmmmm.... Nice

Steve, that is just Beautiful, and the added light to the interior on a gray NW day must be really nice, too!

Note also that Steve eliminated the the "usual" storage problem of multiple teak hatchboards. I also have an Olson and got tired of trying to secure those four heavy teak missles from getting loose inside the boat when changing tacks...
:eek:

I shall have to add a picture of our far-less-attractive solution. I used a piece of honeycomb panel from the Boeing Surplus Store near Kent, WA. I used two layers, since the basic panel was a tad under 1/2 in thick. My version is too overbuilt, but I was concerned with an imaginary "someday" offshore trip and wanted something wave-proof. If doing it again I would go with a single panel thickness and just add a second 4 inch piece across the top. Matter of fact I just fabbed up such a panel to those lighter scantlings for a friend with another brand of boat that had 5 half-inch teak boards that were a flamin' nusance to store.

For our boat, the new one-piece board stores in the head compartment, below the mirror, with a little FRP bracket I molded out -- kept in place by gravity and friction.
The trick is, as it were, to locate some esthetically-pleasing and hopefully obscure place inside the boat to store the one-piece panel you create.

Fair Winds,
Loren in PDX
Olson 34 #8

gjersvik said:

I love the look, thanks for posting pictures.

Click to expand...

Agreed, the pictures help. Mind you, the panels look wet... but that might just be me drooling on the monitor.

gjersvik said:

Yesterday I started making a new hatch for my E-25 and was thinking about which material to use in the frame (different style hatch then yours), and now I think the smoked poly would be a good look.

Click to expand...

If so, could you please take pictures/notes of your construction project? I've an E-25 in need to a replacement hatch and I'd like to see a "how to replace a hatch for compleat idiots" so that I can have the confidence to do it (and perhaps even get it right).

Thick plastic and curves

Geoff,
I have an expert boatbuilder friend that has done clear and smoked curved panels -- it involved a precise mold and temperature-controlled oven. He even replaced the broken wrap-around cabin front windows on a Beneteau 35 !
He also did some panels with a more modest curvature for a custon hard dodger. It takes a large oven and just the proper temp and timing, from what I understand.

Loren

I guess I will live with the crazing . . . I am sure that I would get a lot of flak if I tried to use the oven in the kitchen (although heat lamps might work).

As for the teak hatch boards, I like them. I had a canvas store whip up something with four full length pockets that keeps them secure. Normally I lay it flat on the V-berth and they stay put . . . or it can be easily folded and placed on the shelf in the salon.

Have you tried tooth paste?

Buff them with toothpaste, make sure it is a floridated version. There is the slight abrasion of the feldspar in it, and the chemical reaction between the acrylic and the floride, you can generally get out quite a bit of crazing using it.


Guy

Thermoforming acrylic is very doable for the DIYer, but be careful with ovens. When Acrylic gets to it's workable temperature it gives off a flammable gas. That's not a problem if you're heating it with a torch, as the gas immediately combusts, and you see the "flash-off" as a sign that the plastic is getting close to the right temp. The danger in a kitchen oven is that the plastic could give off the flamable gas, which would build up without an ignition source, then go all at once when it was touched off by the stove's gas or electric element. Might not be pretty.

Some people I know have done it, but it would make me nervous. I've done all my forming with a torch.

Nate

More Light in the NW

Nice looking job and a good idea.

I have badly crazed smoked acrylic in my two overhead cabin hatches. I've already purchased and cut the new acrylic. I decided on clear for the very reason stated at the beginning of the thread. I also measured the hatch boards last weekend and I will probably replace them with a single sheet of 3/4" acrylic or polycarbonate this spring. Can't get enough light down below up here in the NW, especially when it's not summer.

I also have openable Bomar side ports that are badly "frosted." Do you think buffing with toothpaste will help them?

What have you got to loose?

I have buffed a variety of acrylic surfaces with toothpaste, it either makes surprisingly startling differences or does nothing at all. I would give it a try and see what you get. My suspicision is that the frosting will come off or at least become significantly less.

Guy

You can also buy polishes in increasingly fine grades specifically for removing scratches from acrylic. Search for "Acrylic scratch removal". You'll probably find kits available from aquarium companies (large fish tanks are often acrylic) or pilot supply places (GA airplane windshields are acrylic).

By "crazing" I mean hairline cracks that penetrate the material, so surface polishing is not going to help. Moreover, I believe that weight bearing surfaces like overhead hatches are probably compomised by crazing. That's one reason I replaced mine (and covered them with insulated canvas covers to keep the sun and resulatant heat off them while the boat is not being used - also good for sleeping in the v-berth).

soup1438 said:

If so, could you please take pictures/notes of your construction project? I've an E-25 in need to a replacement hatch and I'd like to see a "how to replace a hatch for compleat idiots" so that I can have the confidence to do it (and perhaps even get it right).

Click to expand...

Be glad to, but it is going to be a slow process as the old hatch is to worn to use as a reliable template, so it's a lot of measuring and hand fitting at this point. In the end I hope to end up with templates that I can transfer to paper and share with others.

Crazing and scratches can be sanded out with the kit of ultra
fine sandpaper from Micro Mesh.

http://www.ericsonyachts.org/infoexchange/showthread.php?p=18772#post18772

Steve Jones
Olson 34, Edgewalker, Hull No 1.
Longview, WA 98632
360-423-5156

Nice alternative

Steve J said:

This was an easy project and really lightens up the cabin.

I used a piece of 1/2 inch smoked polycarbonate with AR rating (abrasion resistant). I finish cut the piece on the table saw and rounded the edges with the router table. The sliding hatch cover had to be removed and re-bedded and was easily done. The new sliding hatch needs a stop to keep it captive undet the hatch cover. The material supplier recommended using bushing with the screws into the poly. The other light weight poly hatch board replacement is from 1/4 inch material also cut with wood-working tools.
It is framed with 3/8 inch teak.

Material came from Multicraft Plastics in Portland, OR.

Before and after pictures attached.

Steve Jones
Edgewalker, Olson 34, Hull No. 1
Longview, WA

Click to expand...

I did much the same thing on our boat, but I chose to replace just the top drop board with a similarly sized piece of acrylic. It let it quite a bit of light, but more importantly, it allowed you to see aft out of the cabin (getting up on the steps) at anchor without opening the hatch. Not as much light, but it was only one small extra piece to store.

This Thread Lives, 4+ Years later!

Acquired a section of Beneteau Lexan (free!) and finally got 'round to fabricating the 1-panel insert, using the existing as the pattern. Table saw used to cut to width and the border angles and a router with a rabbet bit to fab the rabbets top/bottom.

The thickness of the Lexan is shy by @ 1/8" from the OEM hatchboards, but this been proven to be inconsequential.

Time to complete the task, all-in, = 45-minutes +/-. Of course this adds another hatch board to the inventory (now a total of 5), which are a bit of a PITA. But this will be a worthwhile upgrade when we're buttoned up below decks in weather, able to now see what we're missing.

1 more item off the list = 'a good thing'.

Also, your local auto parts store should carry a headlight polish kit.

NateHanson said:

You can also buy polishes in increasingly fine grades specifically for removing scratches from acrylic. Search for "Acrylic scratch removal". You'll probably find kits available from aquarium companies (large fish tanks are often acrylic) or pilot supply places (GA airplane windshields are acrylic).

Click to expand...

I would like to replace my 4 teak hatch boards on my E34 with set of hinged doors so I dont have to store them. Has anyone done this? There are commercial companies which advertise to make such doors but the cost is too high. Any ideas on how to set the hinges so that the doors can open and still look flush, some kind of hinges for a kitchen cabinet door?

Herb, I would like to do the same thing...

For now I have screwed my top two and bottom two slat boards together with a piece of teak on the back side. I cant imagine life before this upgrade. It was the smartest thing I ever did to improve the livability of my boat. I now only have two boards to keep track of and I can get in and out by removing just the one top piece.
One other real problem with the hatch boards and companionway slider is being able to latch them closed and yet still open from inside and outside without locking anybody outside or inside. A set of hinged doors would be a step towards the right direction. Although I have seen some pretty cheesy attempts that only belong on a boat that will never be used on the ocean.
How did we get into this modern age and find we are still stuck wedging pieces of a tree into the hole of our cave to keep the weather out?