The Companionway Doors

The original doors had seen better days and one of them was being held together with duct tape so I knew I would need to replace them. Luckily, there was a replacement door already in the boat cut from a piece of plywood. Not very pretty but it will keep the boat secure while I figured out how to remake the doors.

As grace would have it I was amazingly able to find a large piece of inch thick Burmese Teak on eBay that was just the right height for the doors and more then long enough. I then used the original doors as a template for the router to cut them out and shape the wings, the part that slides into the groove. This was when I realized my first error! I had miss remembered how the doors went into the boat and cut them backwards.

On the Tanzer the flat side of the door actually faces the inside and the curved cut out that makes the wings is on the outside. This is not that noticeable since the original doors were only 3/4 inch thick but on the inch thick doors this did not look good. Also because the doorway is not symmetrical and the cut was backwards, putting them in that way meant that the top could not slide into place. Putting them in the other way looked much better as the curve and the thickness matched the inside molding better but now the doors fit on one side but had a HUGE gap on the other. Putting the door in this way would also mean that the join between the doors would be backwards potentially letting rain water in. Ultimately, I chose to go for looks and if rain is a problem I will add a rubber gasket in between the doors.

To fix the gap at the top I still had a small strip of teak that was the same length as door which I joined to the top of the door with a tongue and grove joint using Gorilla glue.  Just for information purposes you wipe the joint with acetone to remove the surface oils then wipe it with water to help activate the glue and join it together.   This was when I made my second mistake. I forgot to take the tongue and grove overlap into account so now there was still a 1/4 inch gap. So I cut the top so that there would be a 1/4 inch gap along the entire top which I will fill in by putting foam rubber onto the sliding top that it mates with. I also curved the back side of the door top to help the foam to compress as it slides into place.

I then put a coat of Watco Teak Oil Wood Finish followed by Epifanes Clear Varnish as per the directions on the can 8 coats in all.

This just leaves the handle covers to refinish.

Reupholstering the Cushions

The original cushions were in useable condition with only one of them having a hole worn into it but I just didn't like how they looked. So I bought some Sunbrella fabric and using the foam as a template I made some new covers. This also gave me a chance to inspect the foam which was still in good condition.  My covers may not be perfect but from what I have read I saved a bunch of money by doing it myself. I also used Sailrite Plastic locking zippers as the metal zippers on the original covers were rusted shut.

Original Covers

New Covers

My First Boat

Spirit Dancer is a 1980 Tanzer 7.5 (25 foot) sailboat that I purchased in late August 2014 through a charity auction for a $200 donation and a $350 dollar "documentation" fee. The boat had a different name then which I have subsequently changed. (shh, don't tell Neptune) The boat was bought from North River Power Squadron which used it for training. It was donated to them by a person from NJ that used to sail it along the east coast.

The boat was in decent shape for it's age and price but it was in need of some TLC and an outboard motor. Luckily, it was in a marina that is very close to me so I arranged to keep it there, on the hard, for the winter so I can fix it up. I had the marina fix the broken lower shroud line that it had and sand blast the bottom down to the gel coat. Then had them apply 2 epoxy barrier coats a primer and 2 coats of Ablative paint. I took the cushions and the companionway door home for winter restoration projects and then spent several nice weekends scrubbing the boat down with toilet bowl cleaner and applying a coat of wax.

I also located a Mercury 9.9hp outboard motor with electric start on Craig's List for 1200.  It is a 2004 but it looks and runs like new. When I went to purchase it the previous owner explained to me that he bought it from a crabbing boat that had it as a back-up motor. So it was maintained every year but hardly ever used. He then told me that he only got to use it 3 times on his boat before his swing keel fell off.