[alberg30] Re: teak

[FINNUS505 at aol.com]

From: <FINNUS505 at aol.com>

Hi Joe,

Don't paint those hatches!!!!!!!!!!

My boat is older, #255, so things are a little different.

When I bought her, the main companion slide, the cockpit ice box hatch, and
the aft hatch were in pieces, and the for hatch and cockpit locker hatches
were worse! (the cockpit locker hatches on the older boats were wood, not like
the glass ones on the later boats.)

My main companion slide was made of 7/16" marine plywood that was held to its
crown by being mortised into heavy solid teak pieces at the for and aft edges.
The plywood was covered with 1/2" by 2" teak planks running for and aft, with
routed seams that held black rubber calking. The cockpit ice box hatch (which
you may not have) was constructed the same way, but without crown, of
course.The aft hatch had no plywood base, just the teak planks fastened to a
teak frame. Someone had put a layer of fiberglass on the underside of the aft
hatch in a last ditch attempt to hold the planks together. When the screws
holding the aft hatch to its hinges split the aft face of the hatch, they
replaced them with bigger iron nails, which did not help!

I thought they both were worth saving. I dissassembled what was hanging
together, belt sanded all the salvageable teak, replaced the broken pieces of
wood, epoxied and screwed it all back together, and put 5 coats of Z-Spar
Captains varnish on them. They came out nice, even though the varnish picks up
a bit of dust in the attic I have to work in.:)

I wanted to make the cockpit hatches and for hatch match the original hatches
I had, ie, the 2' wide planks with payed seams, but I didn't want to make
planked hatches, so I cheated. I made the hatches out of plywood, with lap
jointed 'rails' running around the edges of the plywood to protect the end
grain. I used a router to mortise the plywood into the rails.

The 'cheat' part was to rout shallow seams into the plywood, and pay the fake
seams. Looks good, Joe, and is definitely stronger than a planked hatch. 

I wanted to make an older fashioned looking for-hatch than the original
plexiglass topped design, so I made the hatch as I described, and cut a 10
inch diameter circle in the center, for a round Lexan port. Don't loose much
light below, and it looks real salty!

I know our toe rails are different; mine is the old vertical design. Mine has
some minor checks and splits in several places, but as it is not leaking, I am
taking care of other priorities first. I know it is going to be a bear of a
job to remove that toe rail, fashion new pieces, and refasten the whole
shebang. I will have to do it, though, because,in addition to the breaks,  the
oak spacer that the genny track is sitting on is rotten and gone, and it is
fastened with the same through bolts that hold on the toe rail. Why didn't
Whitby use teak for those spacers?!?  I've had to replace that rotten oak
spacer on the main boom gooseneck track, the spinaker pole track, and the
working jib tracks!!

So don't paint those hatches, Joe!

Best regards, 

Lee Trachtenberg

Stargazer, #255, 1967

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