Companion Way Blues

While most of my companionway work was done between other work, I thought it best to present this as a category unto itself.  Much like the age-old corporate argument of whether or not to organize your minions by geography (North America vs. Europe), product (Widgets vs. Bludgets), or functional group (Marketing vs. Finance), I've decided to pull all of my companionway work together -- until next week when we can fire Mark from Marketing.

Last left, the companionway had just been cut from patterns supplied by CLC*.  This went swimmingly, and before long I had all 10 sides plus a couple handles cut from random bits of padauk, marine plywood, and pine.

One thing I'll share is that I really had no idea how this was going to work.  The plans didn't make this out to be a big deal, but being unfamiliar with the carpentry involved, I thought this was way more complicated than it turned out to be.  So like anything that's a bit of a challenge, I procrastinated as long as possible.  I think the manual has this done before the first flip.  Out of excuses, it was time to buckle down and do this.

Before assembly, I put in a couple blocks towards the forward part of the side planks.  I'm not sure what the use of this is as the slide still goes pretty far forward so this little bit doesn't really stop it from going anywhere.  Nevertheless, blocked up they are. This was allowed to cure and then sanded back smooth.

 

I then scored the forward part of the companionway hood.  This is a much larger piece than it looked with just an eyeball.  It crosses 2/3 of the entire cabin and stops just as few inches from the dorade cowls.  The rake, too, wasn't easy to get right.  All four sides angle in some way.  The method here was similar to what I did for the floorboards: a rough cut, then small shaves with the sander until it fit.  Getting this to fit right took the longest of any part of the companionway build.  Eventually I was satisfied with it.  The long, thin board here is holding it in place.

With all four sides cut, it was then time for the assembly.  It was a bit of a pain to be sure everything was square.  Other bloggers and I believe even CLC screwed the companionway sides onto board to keep things square.  I think that works if you're going to fill the holes and paint over them, but I was (and still am) planning to keep the sides bright so holes would not do.

To solve that, I built a small brace out of scrap wood and then clamped this between the two long ends of the hood.  (While the photo below is much later, you can see the brace to the left of the photo.)  This worked really well to stabilize the wobble but still allowed adjustments if needed, unlike a couple screws.  Most importantly, there are no holes in the hood so I can keep that smooth finish.

It's a little hard to see in the photo but it's basically just a stick screwed onto two flat boards, each about the size of a playing card.  This little contraption was then clamped onto the aft ends of the hood.

While the hood cured, I put together the slide.  Small 90 degree blocks were used in each corner to stay square.  Note the marine plywood forward and aft.  While this is definitely thinner than the 1/4" it calls for in the plans, there aren't any structural issues, and as I find out later, it's good to have a small profile here just in case things don't quite fit.

Before fitting the cover, I brought the slide over to the boat for a test.  Worked well enough.

And then brought the hood over with the slide between.  For the first time, I saw how it all fit together.  It was snug but workable.  To help with the action, I ordered some graphite to mix in with the epoxy for the slides, especially the sills.

 

In thinking about the "roof" of the cabin, I always thought it would be neat to have some art 'glassed into companionway slide. Lying down right before sleep, this is one of the last things I'd see. I spent too long online looking for the right design.  Nothing really caught my eye.  I finally settled on one of those olde thyme maps, and in fact I ordered a small poster, but it wasn't going to get to the house for another few weeks, so that wasn't going to work.  That afternoon, while going fabric shopping with my wife -- I'd spent so much time in the garage lately I felt a little guilty -- I found it:  a southern sky star chart.

It's not a perfect fit, and I later learned that the white fabric picks up the red of the padauk too much, turning the southern sky into a decided shade of pink, but it's good enough. I give myself an A for the idea and a B for execution, which is a high water mark.

The legs of each of these (hood and slide) need to be angled to accept the rake of the "ceiling."  This was short work with the belt sander, though utmost care is needed so as not to take too much off.  The hoods for both pieces are part of the kit and overhang the sides on purpose.  This is to allow for some tolerance in the build.  This tops went on pretty easily with some careful pre-drilling and then wood screws which were removed once cured.  You need to epoxy the handle on at the same time as this helps set the curve, though it wasn't until much later that I discovered I put the handle facing the wrong way.  I get that this is one of those things no one is going to notice but me, but I'll notice this every single time I open the hood.  Sigh.

 Once cured, a quick run with the router cleaned up the edges.

  

There was a lot of squeeze out on the inside of this, so much so that I put it aside for a couple days as I couldn't bear to sand any more.  I'd exhausted all of the other side projects I could think of (at least the ones I was willing to do, as cleaning up this squeeze out ranked still-higher than sanding the paint off the cockpit decking -- more on that later.)

Finally it was time for some 'glass.  The 'glass lays evenly across the top and then down about an inch off the bottom of the side.  There are a couple darts cut into this so it also lays forward (the rear of the hood) and in front.  I was able to get this over the handle and down, so I feel pretty good about the strength here.

 

Something told me I should only do the top of the hood so that's all I did at first, and I'm glad I listened to my intuition.  While everything seemed to be measured well, each additional layer of epoxy under the hood meant a wider and wider diameter for the part.  When this finished curing, I found I wasn't able to slide anymore as the top of the slide was hitting up against the forward port corner of the hood.

The only way I was able to fix it was to sand through a couple layers of plywood in the hood to free up enough material so the slide could slide.  I also took off a layer on the slide itself.  Finally, after a LOT of wrangling, I was able to get the slide to slide under the hood with very little resistance.

None of this will be visible and there is definitely a small structural component lost by the thinner plywood.  However, a set of solar panels will be here and no one should be stepping on this so I think it'll be OK.

You can also see the black of the graphite + epoxy on the sills.  This is also in the area where the slide rests on the deck.  I didn't think it would be this dark; it throws off the aesthetic.  I'll have to clean this up before final presentation and I'm not exactly sure what this will look like yet.

 

 

* I eventually found those patterns I thought I'd lost long ago.  At hole 14 on a golf course here in Muscat, I couldn't wedge my pitching wedge back in my golf bag.  I looked in and there were the rolled up, slightly musty plans.  These must've been here since I packed for Nigeria in late 2014, and let's just say there wasn't much golf to be had in Nigeria.  I've no idea why I thought that was a good place for them, and who knows why I thought I'd remember where I put them.