Bulkhead/Door opinions and advice

[cantaris]

Since I am not getting responses to my questions burried in another post, I thought I would try posting for each concern directly. I would like to add a bulkhead with door and windows to my cabin. I know drop down canvas would be the easiest, but would rather do a permanent install. I would like some advise on how to proceed and what materials to use. Here are a couple of my ideas
1- 3/4" exterior grade ply( non marine) sealed with Poly and painted(what kind of paint?)
2- Tempered glass or plexiglass? sealed with silicone and held in place with pieces of PVC 1/4 round trim.
3- 1x1 or 2x2 to hold front and back around the perimeter- filleted and glassed to deck atleast on the aft side because I am going to try and do a self bailing aft deck.
4- No idea on door handle. I.E how to get it to latch/lock.
Thanks for any advise.

 

[oops!]

Re: Bulkhead/Door opinions and advice

i havent built a door for a boat....but on the old 43 footer i lived on...the doorways were built like standard door ways.

what i would suggest......is making the bulkhead out of 3/4 inch fiberglassed incased plywood.... with a doorway (trim it to make it look pretty) and use a standard turn down latch.

i would encase it in fiberglass not just poly.....the poly is brittle and will crack by it self...it needs the glass......as far as paint......just pick one....any marine paint.

it would not be hard to make it a water proof hatch with the proper rubber trim

 

[daviscfad]

Re: Bulkhead/Door opinions and advice

so how big is your boat?what type of cabin do you have? the reason i ask is i have ideas but want to know what kinda of sizes we are looking at

 

[cantaris]

Re: Bulkhead/Door opinions and advice

The boat is 24 ft has a hardtop, dinette,sink,stove.

 

[NSBCraig]

Re: Bulkhead/Door opinions and advice

Love them hard tops!

 

[drewpster]

Re: Bulkhead/Door opinions and advice

Are you replacing a bulkhead that is missing, or adding one as a partition? If you are adding one you might consider using a canvas top or camper enclosure. Having one made can be costly. The bows, and sometimes the tops themselves, can be very generic in design. Often all it takes is knowing the width and length you want to cover. There are boat salvage yards all over the country that will sell you bows and often you can find complete tops. If you find one that is oversized it can be modified to fit your boat. My old cruiser had good bows with it. I plan to make a top if I can't find one that can be modified.
If you do not want to cover the back of the boat completely you may be able to make a canvas (or marine cloth) partition with a zip up door. I would love it if someone here would start an enclosure project.

 

[daviscfad]

Re: Bulkhead/Door opinions and advice

you can do the canvas thing which will be a nice touch... Umm if i was gonna use wood i would grab an okoume which is rather expensive.. I think you should drop down plum from your top... But another idea wouldbe to take pvc or king starbd. and make a removable bulk head and wrap it in vinyl... I am doing that on my 211 liberator.. |It had wood bulkheads wraped with carpet and it was rotten so i am going back with 3/4 pvc and wrapped in vinyl

 

[projecthog]

Re: Bulkhead/Door opinions and advice

Sorry to interrupt guys,

Just wondered why this thread window is twice the width as compared to normal?
This one is the only one that reads in that format.
Carry on, just wondered.

PH.

 

[arks]

Re: Bulkhead/Door opinions and advice

Sorry to interrupt guys,

Just wondered why this thread window is twice the width as compared to normal?
This one is the only one that reads in that format.
Carry on, just wondered.

PH.

Because of the way he entered the images. It's always best to use a separate hosting site and re-size them for posting on the message board.

 

[cantaris]

Re: Bulkhead/Door opinions and advice

Sorry to interrupt guys,

Just wondered why this thread window is twice the width as compared to normal?
This one is the only one that reads in that format.
Carry on, just wondered.

PH.

Sorry about that. When I grabbed the images from photobucket I did not realize the each image address had to be on a separate line

 

[Mark42]

Re: Bulkhead/Door opinions and advice

Thats a great looking boat. What an outstanding cabin. I think a door would be a great addition. How about framing a vertical wall up to the height of the gunnels, than follow the angle of the hard top so it has a forward slant. The door will need to be recessed a few inches at the base to get a flat door into an angled bulk head. Also, I suggest that the bulkhead wall be sealled to the deck and sides of the boat to make it water tight. Then have the door be about six inches off the deck. That will keep water from running into the cabin. You will have to step over it, but it is a good design.

Also, make the upper sections of the bulkhead large windows on each side of the door, and a large window in the door, so the view from the helm is not obscured too much.

Design issues I see are taking careful measurements to make sure the dinette seat back will clear the bulkhead, that there is enough space for a generously sized door, and that the door does not take too much space when latched in the full open position. There are lots of press on edge seals that will work to seal out the elements. Do a search on yahoo for "edge seals", and mcmaster.com is a great source of hardware.

I think that 3/4" ply is way too heavy. I would frame it out with 1x2 and use 1/4 or 3/8" plywood, covered with polyester and glass.

Before deciding on windows, look at what is available as standard supply to the camper industry, and you will have a nice selection of opening windows on aluminum frames that will just screw in place to openings cut in the plywood. Kind of pricy, but will have a real factory look. And a nice 4 or 6" radius on the door corners will give it a nice nautical look, and make sealing easier.

Sounds like a great project to me. It will really extend the boating season being able to close it off.

Another option is to make the bulkhead out of foam and cover with epoxy/glass. Check out the Bayliner hard top project in my signature below to see what I mean.

Good luck and don't forget to post pictures. We love pictures!

Mark