Our Sailboat Is Getting a Real Door! - Ep. 508 Ran Sailing

Malin ran an electric heating fan inside the boat shed at Sun Hill Farm, contending with a brisk 3°C morning while Johan stayed in bed battling a fever and influenza. Working solo inside the deckhouse of their custom 52-foot sailboat project for RAN Sailing, she focused on glassing the salon floor perimeter before turning her attention to the nav station and settee.

Between work intervals in mid-October, she gathered autumn decorations and pumpkins with their daughter Vera before returning to the barn to maintain progress on the interior structural joinery.

Solitary Deckhouse Glassing and Nav Station Prep

Working in the unheated barn, Malin concentrated on taping the structural seam between the deck salon sole and the base of the settee unit. To avoid excessive climbing across the staging while keeping epoxy at a workable curing temperature, she established a compact lamination bench directly inside the future navigation station and office compartment.

The interior arrangement demanded steady application of woven fiberglass tape and resin along tight corner transitions where access proved awkward. Reflecting on the sustained commitment required for the multi-year build schedule, Malin summarized their operational focus: “The goal is to set sail in summer 2029. So, we’re working our butts off.” By maintaining consistent progress on the deck salon joinery through the cold spell, she kept the interior workflow advancing until Johan could rejoin the build.

Machining Delrin Hatch Sliders for Controlled Friction

After resting on the sofa for nearly a week while his fever and coughing subsided, Johan returned to the workshop. He assessed the completed tabbing across the salon sole and shifted his attention to the companionway entrance, beginning with the sliding overhead hatch runners.

Rather than using low-friction materials that could allow the heavy hatch to slide freely under wave motion, Johan chose polyoxymethylene, also known as Delrin or POM plastic. As he explained regarding material selection: “POM plastic is pretty sturdy and strong plastic with a decent low friction. So, I will try to make the sliders from this.” He milled parallel guide grooves into the POM stock using a router, radiused the leading edges, and set identical spacing between the runners with wooden alignment spacers.

Johan and Malin dry-fitted the sliders along the deckhouse companionway track to evaluate the resistance under manual operation. Evaluating the mechanical action, Johan observed: “So, I think the sliders work the way they should now with the just right amount of friction. Not too easy, but not too hard.” Both agreed that keeping positive sliding resistance was essential so that deck heel or pitching cannot fling the hatch open unexpectedly.

Fabricating the Composite Door Core with Coosa Board and Foam

Turning to the main companionway door itself, Johan selected 19 mm Coosa 26 Bluewater composite board to form the structural core perimeter. Describing the specialized composite sheet, he highlighted its characteristics: “It’s 19 mm thick and it’s based on polyurethane with fiberglass as a reinforcement. It’s not very common in Europe, at least not in Sweden.” While the high-density polyurethane composite provides waterproof durability and rot resistance, its high cost and structural density made a solid panel unnecessary.

To reduce swinging mass and conserve the valuable Coosa material, Johan hollowed out the lower core cavity and fitted leftover recycled PET foam in its place. He carefully routed out the deep mortise cavity for the mechanical door lock prior to lamination, knowing that his router bits lacked sufficient reach once the thick composite panels were bonded together. The upper door aperture was left open to receive an insulated, toughened double-glazed window panel scheduled for delivery in subsequent weeks.

Vacuum Bag Salvage and Frame Construction

Johan assembled the Coosa skin and PET foam core within a vacuum bag to consolidate the epoxy lamination. Under full vacuum pressure late in the evening around half past six, he spotted a critical issue: unsupported composite edges along the internal window cutout were deflecting inward. To prevent permanent distortion in the door frame, he quickly conducted a salvage intervention by slipping supporting PET foam spacer blocks beneath the perimeter before leaving the epoxy assembly to cure under vacuum overnight.

The following morning confirmed the salvage procedure had succeeded, with the cured composite door blank displaying zero deflection across its surfaces. Johan utilized a handheld CNC Shaper router to clean up the internal window aperture and true the outer dimensions. He then tackled the companionway door frame, cutting matching Coosa uprights and laminating them with epoxy. To prevent the slick composite pieces from hydroplaning out of alignment under clamping pressure, he sprinkled coarse table salt across the wet resin joint before tightening the clamps.

Johan designed the threshold sill to be machined from angled teak rather than composite board, directing any accumulated cockpit drainage outward away from the interior sole. The frame architecture incorporates an intentional offset along the companionway centerline, pairing with 2 heavy-duty hinges to allow the door to swing completely flat against the interior bulkhead without narrowing the primary walkway past the salon table.

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