Drop Boards | Making Acrylic Boards

While getting ready to move the boat (again) I decided to make the acrylic drop boards that came with the kit.

I thought it would be fun and might distract me from thinking about repainting the boat.

I had already made a flange for the upper drop board from Sapele.

Here I am polishing it after wet sanding to get a nice smooth and shiny finish.

I removed the protective covering from the board and masked it off for the transparent caulking compound, and fitted the flange with the board in the vice. Like this.

That was straightforward and looked very nice.

I used M4 pan head machine screws and domed nuts, as on the drop board retainers on the companionway.

I used a steel rule to make sure that screw heads lined up nicely, as here.

I waited for the caulk to cure and then made a test fit.

Here are the boards with the slide closed.

And here they are with the slide open.

They look really good! I enjoyed that.