Companionway | Making The Flange

I should have fitted the companionway flange some time back, according to the build manual.

The flange goes around the inside of the companionway opening, on the rear cabin wall, and will be used to seal off the interior with drop boards when complete.

I cut the tops of the flange off a little short some weeks back, and rather than fuss with it when there were more important things to get done I left it to one side.

Now I had to get it finished, so started by levelling the bottom edge of the entrance with a rasp, like this.

This is so that water will not lie there, in a trough.

Then I made a pair of fashion pieces for the tops of the flange, like this.

These will carry the flange up to the top of the rear cabin wall, with a recess to fit around the cabin roof carlins.

Lastly I clamped the pieces in place to await gluing when the next epoxy resin task is under way. Here they are.

Onwards and upwards!

Companionway Hood & Slide | Installing Tops

When the companionway hood trim piece was refinished I installed the hood and slide tops, glued up and buttoned down with temporary screws.

There really isn't much to say about this, except here is the hood top in place ...

 ... and here is the slide top, permanently fitted.

It's very cold here now, in the British winter, so I left them for a couple of days and then moved them into the house to finish curing in the warm interior.

Coming along well!

Companionway Hood | Finishing The Trim

While doing the dry fitting of the companionway hood and slide tops, I noticed that the width of the bevel on the top of the slide trim piece was very slightly narrower than that on the hood.

I must have used a slightly different bevel measurement on one of them.

No matter. I slimmed down the bevel on the hood trim with a block plane, and until it matched the slide. As here.

It's very awkward doing this because the piece cannot be held in the vice, but with patience it is possible.

Companionway Hood & Slide | Dry Fitting Tops

When the companionway hood and slide frames were cured I dry fitted their tops to make sure everything fitted together properly.

This is the slide top, correctly located and clamped in place.

And here it is securely fitted in place with temporary screws.

Next came the hood. Here is the top clamped in place on the frame.

This was a bit of a struggle.

The trick is to clamp the top to the trim piece first - as the manual states - and then offer it up to the frame and clamp it in the correct position.

A helper would be useful here, or four pairs of hands. Unfortunately I have neither.

Lastly here is the hood top securely fastened down with temporary screws.

Looking good! Next up is permanent fitting of the tops.

Companionway Hood & Slide | Frame Assembly

It was time to permanently assemble the companionway hood and slide frames.

I did the slide first. Here is the frame glued and screwed together and clamped up square on the bench.

Here I am checking the slide for squareness, using an engineer's square.

All is well.

This is what the corner joints look like, fastened with 8 gauge bronze wood screws.

I had previously removed the hood from the cabin roof and refitted the temporary support brace, and now I screwed and glued it together.

Here it is on a table curing.

And here I am checking the hood frame for squareness.

Again, all is well.

This is fun!

Companionway Slide | Test Fit

With the companionway slide now fitted with plastic runners it was clearly time for a test fit in the hood assembly, which was still attached to the cabin roof.

I removed the temporary support brace from the hood and slid in the slide.

Here is the closed slide, seen from the front.

And here is the opened slide, seen from behind.

She's starting to look a bit yachty ... very nice!

Companionway Slide | Making The Plastic Runners

 It was time fit the plastic runners to the companionway slide.

I covered the pieces of Starboard plastic (yes, that's really its brand name ...) with masking tape and marked up five screw holes in each strip. Like this.

Then  I carefully drilled the holes on the pillar drill, as here.

I countersunk the holes with a cordless drill and drilled pilot holes in the slide.

It was then I realised that I had assumed that the plastic strips were the same length as the slide. They aren't - they are slightly oversize.

As a result the end screws in the runners are very close to the end of the slide. It doesn't matter but it's a bit annoying ...

This is what they look like when fitted.