Swinging/Sliding Trawler Door Ideas!

Hello, I own a 43'trawler with sliding doors on the port and starboards sides. the doors are teak and have plastic on the ends that slide on a track. They don't slide very easily and do not seal properly. My idea is to make them better functioning doors. I have found some s/s track that have s/s carrages with wheels to ride in the track. This would still not allow for a very good seal, i think if the doors swung out first and the slide to open it may allow it to make a good seal, so when closing it would slide and then swing into the frame and make a great seal(with weatherstripping) after latching? I think i may be able to fashion bolts off of the carraige to pivot allowing door to swing then the rollers would do the rest, not sure? Please share all ideas, they are teak doors and in teak frames all which can be modified. i just want easily operated and sealing doors.
Thanks
Andy

 

what i usually do, is screw an alloy t section to the door, , cutting the t web, about 10mm high, then I machine an engineering plastic block , on the saw bench, with a groove in it to accomadate the t, this makes a very slippery slide , but with close tolerences, the door is not free to close by itself

 

I understand what you are saying, and have seen something similar on a Carver yacht. But the difference was instead of a t shaped alloy it was just a alloy rod that slide in a starboard(plastic marine lumber) groove. The groove was curved to come into the frame and it worked. Only thing is that it did not move as freely as i'd like. Maybe a t shaped at top and rod at bottom would allow for smooth slide? the weight i guess would be on the t shaped alloy? 2 guides at the top suffient?

 

this is out of scale but short on time, the t web needs be deeper the red is t the green is eng plastic, fasten both with c/s screws
your can run t trhough your saw to shorten web as bought from your store, , when you do pack the section and clamp the packing to saw bench

 

So i'm a little confused of the definition of web. I think from the diagram that the green part would be part of the frame and the t would be attached to the door? So the green would be the groove and t to ride in the groove? thanks for your time

 

Page d-8 on this link the t-250 is what i have considered. http://www.fenestration.net/pdf_documents/Catalog_D_sliding.pdf

 

Black D, my preference is to use a track & cars usually used for a light yacht mainsheet system, the Ronstan 22mm I beam & two single cars per door set at the top with nylon guides at the bottom, the cars need slight modification- remove saddle & replace with fastenings from the inside of the car to the door. All the best with it from Jeff.

 

youa re welcome, yes the web is the I part of the T , we usually do that, simple quick and cost effective

 

I am going to look into waikikin said, but am leaning towards your suggestion(lazyjack). It would certainly be cost effective and simple. You do think it would slide pretty smoothly? We have a 5yr old on board and would like to make it easy for him to open too. Float on!

 

oh , dont make it too free then, else it,ll run shut and may hurt his wee hands
ok then perhaps, just enough slop in the sides to stop rattle and make the underside of the T and the plastic a fairly tight fit If you make the plastic thick say 10mm, you could then shave it until you have it to right tightness,but I would start tighter

 

I do appreciate the help. I have bought the materials i'm going to need and starting on it this evening. I think i'm going to make the track out of pine at first just too make sure the curves are right and then use that as a pattern for the starboard. It would be kinda expensive to make a mistake with the starboard. I will keep you posted as to my progress, i can't wait to have working doors that seal easily. Cheers

 

If your going to be modifying the doors , changing the design to "dutch doors" where the top can swing open , as the bottom stays closed is cozy on bad days.

May even keep the pets and kids aboard easier.

FF