Vertical access panels

Discussion in 'Fiberglass and Composite Boat Building' started by fallguy, Apr 11, 2019.

  1. fallguy
    Joined: Dec 2016
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    fallguy Senior Member

    Need to install some vertical access panels...any advice for weather exposed vertical panel construction?

    Flush mount has obvious ingress concerns at the seams.

    Mounted proud still has ingress from above.

    Just wondering what is typically done and how hinged. I have these in one boat and they are just flush with open seams.

    If mounted proud, any hinge advice for 12mm core?

    Struggling with googles, but gonna keep trying..
     
  2. rwatson
    Joined: Aug 2007
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    Location: Tasmania,Australia

    rwatson Senior Member

    I think the trick is to combine both features.
    Flush has the benefit of "hiding" from wind blown, forced spray and even waves coming on board.

    But you can design flush mounts with moisture/waterproof surrounds that work every bit as well as surface mount.

    Flushdoor.png
     
  3. fallguy
    Joined: Dec 2016
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    Location: usa

    fallguy Senior Member

    Oh, I like what you did there a bunch. I could just inset a backer/flange and still build the doors flush for the hardware. I am a bit nervous about it taking a week to make two small doors look nice with decoring of the door and decoring of the opening and fairing them back to look true to each other. The good news is these are sort of hidden, so they needn't be perfect, but they are at the back of the cockpit on a powerboat, so an inch of water or more heading into them likely. And I only have 9.5" of total height, so I haven't found a conventional plastic panel to use. I do need 5" to get rigger balls into the hole, so the final door will be about 6" if I use a 1/2" landing inset. A 6" door will allow me 2.5" sill on the bottom plus the flange and an inch at the top and I can hinge at the top.

    Then are you doing any seal other than that sweep at the bottom?

    Also, do you have a typical idea about glass needs for these doors? I also have a fender locker that I plan to keep open, but had considered a flap just to make the boat look nicer. I was going to build it with 6mm corecell. That door would be say 8" wide by 25" long.

    And if you have any secret ways to avoid decoring, please share them. I have considered just making a moulding from high density core scraps and a neat coat on the router table and gluing it on the edge with a neat coat of epoxy. It'd be so much faster and the edges would be instantly square, but not sure if it'd hold up without glass very well. Guess I can test the concept. Otherwise some solid frp extrusions or even just gluing on a piece of solid glass seems faster.
     
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