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.

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 Hood | Dry Fit

The manual tells us to attach the companionway hood to the cabin roof with temporary screws which will later be used for its permanent installation.

I hadn't done that yet so thought I should get it out of the way before doing anything else.

So I carefully located the hood into place, measuring to make sure it was correctly positioned in relation to the forward cabin wall and the companionway opening and sill.

Then I pencilled around the outside and inside of the hood, pulled it aside and drilled three holes in the roof on each side.

I marked up and drilled pilot holes in the hood and fastened it in place with temporary screws.

All seemed well, as seen here.

Looking good!

Companionway Slide | Preliminary Test Fit

I wanted to be absolutely sure that the companionway slide fits into the hood correctly before I glued them both up permanently.

So I clamped the plastic strips to the bottom edges of the slide and offered it up to the hood. Like this.

Everything looked fine. Yippee!

Companionway Slide | Making The Top

It was time to make the tops for the companionway hood and slide. I did the slide first because it is the easiest.

First I assembled the frame with temporary screws and clamped it to the bench to make sure it was square, like this.

Here I am checking the corners with an engineer's square for trueness.

As you can see, they're fine.

Next I clamped the frame to the slide top, upside down so I could mark up the location of the frame on the underside of the top. Like this.

Again, using the engineer's square to make sure that the frame is perfectly square.

Then the frame was removed and the top marked up and drilled for temporary screws, as in this pic.

I put five screws in each side, to make sure it is buttoned down securely when glued up.

That's it! 

Companionway Slide | Making The Trim

Like the companionway hood, the slide has a trim piece running across its rear edge.

This serves as grab handle for opening and closing the slide, and also looks good.

I marked up the trim piece using the slide forward piece pattern, and cut it out.

Here I am shaping the concave curve on its bottom edge.

The slide trim is also bevelled to match the hood trim.

Here I am using the jack plane to cut the bevel on the bench - awkward but possible with patience.

Next we have to make tops for the hood and the slide. Should be fun!

Companionway Slide | Making The Frame

With the companionway hood frame made I moved on to do the same for the slide.

The front piece is shaped to match the curvature of the deck.

I marked it out from its pattern and cut it to shape.

Here I am shaping its bottom edge with a saw rasp, which turns out to be the best tool for making a concave curve.

In this pic I am cleaning up the tough end grain with the block plane.

Next I marked up the rear slide piece from its pattern, as here.

I cut the piece out and shaped the top edge with the jack plane, like this.

Next I cut it to the correct width, and made the cut outs which allow the rear of the slide to pass over the companionway sill on the cabin roof.

Here I am cleaning up the cut outs in the vice with a chisel.

Like the hood, the slide is held together with screwed and glued joints at each corner.

I drilled screw holes with the pillar drill and assembled the slide frame to check alignment, like this.

I labelled the pieces to avoid confusion on reassembly, and took the frame apart. Here are the four pieces with their labels.

The rear piece is raked forwards so requires a bevel for the top.

The sides also need to be bevelled to match the curved top.

The bevels are marked in on these pieces.

I mark all bevels with the cutting gauge and run along the cut with a pencil to make the line clearly visible.

Here is a side piece in the vice, with its bevel being cut by the block plane.

And lastly here is the rear piece in the vice, with its bevel being cut with the jack plane.

That's the slide frame manufactured!