Companionway Sliding Cover

[LONG_KEELER]

My windows are small which I suppose are good for safety buy it gets a bit dark down below.

The acrylic/polycarbonate vertical removeable boards makes a big difference.

Just wondering if I could change the sliding flat cover to acrylic/polycarbonate as well . Walking round the marina no one else seems to have it. Perhaps it's due to the curvature or mouldings.

Anyone changer theirs - with success.

TIA.

 

[john_morris_uk]

Our sliding hatch is smoked acrylic. It’s got a teak handle screwed to it if that helps.

 

[Dipper]

Mine is smoked acrylic too but that is how it was originally designed. My cabin windows are tiny.

 

[Tranona]

Most modern boats have acrylic hatches, but tend to be flat. I did my old wooden boat with 6mm polycarbonate with a curve over a wooden frame but needed a lot of screws and a central bar with a wood strip on top. At the aft end I screwed a wooden strip for a hand grip.

 

[Stemar]

If it's flat, no problem, plenty of boats have them, but it'll need to be strong enough to stand on and strong enough to be locked effectively enough for your insurer to be happy. If it's an odd shape, acrylic can be shaped, but I've never been brave enough to do it.

A simpler alternative for an awkward shape might be to keep the original, but cut some windows in it. I'd bed them on butyl tape and fix with the kind of interscrews that have a serrations on the nut, which would go on the outside to make life a little more difficult for the light fingered brigade.