Sunday afternoon meant to be an cabin interior day, having recently finished the varnish work on various trim components (fiddles and the like), but I called an audible and set forward on the fabrication of the last trim piece. I should say that I planned to utilize the original, but a nagging aesthetic had me returning often to the thought of new. We are talking about the companionway slide hatch trim (exterior piece) that one uses to open and close the slide hatch. In earlier efforts I had taken the old varnish off the piece, cleaned it up, and applied several layers of new varnish. In the end, water staining, the result of varnish failure around the fasteners, proved impossible to remove and just brought the whole look of Biscuit down. So, I placed the wrapped interior pieces to the side and turned my attention to creating a new companionway slide hatch trim piece.

I combed through the remaining stock of mahogany that was used to create all new exterior brightwork and found a suitable piece. Using the original trim piece, I transferred the arc of the original to the new piece of mahogany stock, and with a jigsaw removed this rough piece. Through hand sanding, both with and without a small block, I shaped the new trim piece to its final appearance with 60 through 240 grit paper. I iterated the final underside arc shape with sanding and placing onto the companionway slide hatch itself (rinse and repeat) until I was satisfied with its fit. Finally happy with the, I softened all of the edges until handing the piece felt good to the touch. On to fastener location.

Again using the original trim piece, I transferred the fastener locations using a small 2" square, and ensured they aligned with the companionway slide's underside trim - this piece helps to sandwich the companionway slide hatch ensuring the exterior (newly fabricated) is secured to the hatch itself. The interior trim also receives the cabin's lock tongue - when the hatch is closed, the tongue passes through the upper washboard and is secured with a lock. Now with the fasteners located on the new trim piece, I found each centerline and pre-drilled the holes on the press to accept #10 wood screws. The screws used up to this point were #8 stainless steel screws, so I decided to upgrade the overall look with utilizing bronze slotted screws, again countersunk into the trim piece.

The fasteners holes drilled out, I counterbore the hole locations from the top to allow the screw heads to sit flush with the wood. I brief sanding with 240-grit paper and the new slide hatch exterior trim was ready for varnish prep. I set up a couple blocks to support the piece in the varnish room, cleaned the piece with acetone to remove any remaining sanding dust, and then coated the piece with a reduced first coat of varnish. From stock to varnish in an afternoon. In the coming week, I will get to completing the mounting of interior trim fiddles, plus measures for the seacock hoses.

Total Hrs: 3.5