A Companionway Too Far

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A Companionway Too Far

Postby truenorth on Wed Sep 03, 2014 4:55 pm

The manual clearly states that the companionway should be 'exactly 20.5 inches from the aft cabin wall.' Somewhere along the way, I missed that and installed it 22.5 inches back. It's already epoxied down so there's no turning back from it now.

The way I figure, there are two options:
1) Ignore it and build the companionway hatch to the new specs.
2) Try to build a bridge with scrap plywood across the span, 2 inches wide.

Option 1 seems easier but I'm worried about ... well, I'm not sure what I'm worried about except I'll have a slightly oblong hatch. Option 2 seems harder but things will look better when done, *if* I can do it right (and there's no guarantee of that). Any advice on this one?
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Re: A Companionway Too Far

Postby DanaDCole on Wed Sep 03, 2014 8:31 pm

My vote is for Option 2. I think if you change the dimensions of the hatch that could lead to something else out of whack you have to correct for and on and on, like falling dominoes. The 2" extension will not be a lot of fun to build and you'll probably have some trouble hiding it from view belowdecks. Above, though, I kind of think the hatch will hide it.

I'm sure you can think of some ingenious, decorative way to hide it from below. Or, if you are going to paint your "ceiling" rather than bright finish you shouldn't see the line at all. Before the days of epoxy you would have had to build some kind of support under it, but I think you can glue the butt joint with epoxy and it will be plenty strong. I've done some tests with just that sort of joint and the wood always breaks, NOT the joint, i.e., the joint is stronger than the wood.

Or, am I missing the whole point here? I am months away from getting to that part so I may not be visualizing this correctly at all. Why do I always weigh in on matters I know nothing about? I suppose if I only talked about things I know about I would have nothing to say!
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Re: A Companionway Too Far

Postby craig on Wed Sep 03, 2014 9:33 pm

I vote Option 1. A longer hatch shouldn't look odd - I doubt anybody could tell the difference even comparing side-by-side with Pocketship #1. You're working from a kit, so the pre-cut companionway plywood tops won't be the right size I think, unless they are over-size. Still, I would think it's easier to extend those with a butt joint or similar than to splice a bit of plywood to the companionway opening while making sure to preserve the correct deck camber. The cabin interior is a very visible area, so messing around with roof extensions might be too visible. If it was me, I'd just keep the opening the way you have it and adjust the sliding hatch.

Oddly enough, when I was preparing to attach the roof, I knew it was supposed to be 21.5 inches, and even pre-drilled a few holes for that. It was only at the last second that I double-checked the manual and saw it was 20.5. Odd.
Titania, launched January 2015
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Re: A Companionway Too Far

Postby chaertl on Wed Sep 03, 2014 11:32 pm

Hi Larry,

Check the framing on page 186, might make the decision easier.


Chris
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Re: A Companionway Too Far

Postby JonLee on Thu Sep 04, 2014 12:02 am

I vote for option 1. In the full-size patterns, the plywood for the hatch was way oversized, and I'm guessing the kit is the same way, so you should have no particular problem there.
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Re: A Companionway Too Far

Postby Bflat on Thu Sep 04, 2014 9:40 am

Which side of the rear cabin wall is the 20.5" measurement to be made? Fore or aft? I've wondered that since first reading the manual.
Last edited by Bflat on Thu Sep 04, 2014 9:43 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: A Companionway Too Far

Postby DanaDCole on Thu Sep 04, 2014 9:42 am

It looks like I'm being outvoted here, which is probably good because I am not that far along, so don't know what I am talking about.

One thing still bugs me though: The companionway hatch slides into the hood and I assume it butts up against the end of the hood when fully opened. If so, it means that if you make the hatch two inches too long it will not slide fully into the hood and you will lose two inches of space to crawl though. Will that be a problem?
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Re: A Companionway Too Far

Postby truenorth on Thu Sep 04, 2014 3:41 pm

I've decided to pursue option 1 (unless someone makes a counterpoint I can't ignore before I 'glass the cabin deck).

The risks as I see them are aesthetic, mainly that the hood will appear disproportionately large to the cabin. The issue that Dana brings up is a good one, but the whole contraption fits into each other. In other words, everything will be two inches longer, so the slide will fit the hood. An alternative is to make the hatch to normal spec and put blocking at the rear of the hood to avoid closing it too far. That solution covers the hood area, provides the same amount of space forward and aft for sliding, and does not affect anything behind it.

Bflat: Good question. I would measure it from the aft part of the cabin wall, taking into the count the width of the plywood.
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Re: A Companionway Too Far

Postby truenorth on Fri Sep 05, 2014 11:02 am

I've changed my mind and will go with option 2!

After consulting with the two Minnesota PocketShip builders (using the sand on a shuffleboard table in a neighborhood bar to draw out the specs), I think the risk to water in the cabin is too great to not at least try to fix the opening. If it were a flat piece, no problem, but the curve worries me, so that's where I'll concentrate my time. With enough epoxy, it should be a smooth transition. We'll see.
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Re: A Companionway Too Far

Postby craig on Fri Sep 05, 2014 11:20 am

Good luck!

It might be easy to fix. The 1/2" by 1" blocking that keeps water out of the cabin is cut to fit the deck camber. You could cut it to fit the roof you have now, then glue it to a 2" strip of plywood to bend the plywood into the correct shape. Then just cut the plywood to the correct length for the companionway entrance and glue it into place to extend the cabin roof. You probably wouldn't even need to use a plywood butt block since the piece will never have a large load placed on it: you could just tape each side of the seam with fiberglass.
Titania, launched January 2015
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