markc
Well-known member
I'm posting this because since I bought the boat I have had a problem with the door being very stiff due to the runner being damaged. I looked everywhere on-line to find out how to dismantle, plus contacted Ferretti and their UK dealer, but no-one was able to help....this may help someone in future.
Firstly, the parts. The manufacturer of the roller system is RobotUnits in Germany. The rollers are Laufwerk | Robotunits Schutzzaunsystem Zubehör and the runner is here Laufschiene | Robotunits Schutzzaunsystem Zubehör
The door is very heavy and is suspended by these rollers. It will require at least 2 of you to remove the door.
To dismantle - Inside the door, remove the top stainless trim secured by 3 machine screws to reveal where the door is bolted to the rollers. Loosen the nylock nuts on each side and remove. Above the door frame is a standard nut to stop upward movement. Using either a thin spanner or little finger, back the nut up as far as possible towards the roller. This will give you enough space to remove the door... with someone outside and someone inside, push the door up as high as possible and at the same time pull the bottom of the door towards the stern. You will have just enough height for the door to pass over the bottom guide. the door is HEAVY. Put to one side. This is the easy bit!
The next part is to remove the rail. In my case this took at least 3 hours, probably more. For a while we were convinced that the stainless trim was welded to the rest of the stainless frame as it was so stuck. This was because the rail is aluminium and it is encased on each side with a stainless steel trim piece (separate on each side as we later discovered) inside there are stainless packers that are in contact with the outside of the aluminium rail. Over time the SS and Ali reacted causing the ali to corrode and swell, jamming the rail and trim in place. After removing the retaining screws the only way we could remove was creating a puller with stud, nut, thick piece of steel with a hole in, plus a handy piece that comes with the roller that exactly fits inside the rail. You will also need a packer on one side so you are pulling at the the same angle as the rail. Starting at one end, use the puller to start to pull the rail down, move it 100mm along the rail and repeat. You will need to remove the internal stopper that is inside the rail at the far end because a final screw is underneath. In my case we couldn't remove in situ, but with the puller we managed to pull the rail past the screw and remove it afterwards, but it did bend the screw making it quite hard to remove. Use the old rail as a hole pattern for the new rail - the pre-drilled holes won't be in the right place. Make sure you countersink the holes or the rollers will catch on the screw heads. Clean up the stainless trim and packers. We then used tef-gel to liberally coat any contact points between the ali and stainless, including the screws. Putting the new rail in was easy. Fitting the door is the reverse of the removal, but due to the time and effort required to line up the studs on the rollers, suggest you raise the door on timber to make it easier.
Hope this helps someone and sorry that I didn't take any photos - I thought of posting this after the fact!
Firstly, the parts. The manufacturer of the roller system is RobotUnits in Germany. The rollers are Laufwerk | Robotunits Schutzzaunsystem Zubehör and the runner is here Laufschiene | Robotunits Schutzzaunsystem Zubehör
The door is very heavy and is suspended by these rollers. It will require at least 2 of you to remove the door.
To dismantle - Inside the door, remove the top stainless trim secured by 3 machine screws to reveal where the door is bolted to the rollers. Loosen the nylock nuts on each side and remove. Above the door frame is a standard nut to stop upward movement. Using either a thin spanner or little finger, back the nut up as far as possible towards the roller. This will give you enough space to remove the door... with someone outside and someone inside, push the door up as high as possible and at the same time pull the bottom of the door towards the stern. You will have just enough height for the door to pass over the bottom guide. the door is HEAVY. Put to one side. This is the easy bit!
The next part is to remove the rail. In my case this took at least 3 hours, probably more. For a while we were convinced that the stainless trim was welded to the rest of the stainless frame as it was so stuck. This was because the rail is aluminium and it is encased on each side with a stainless steel trim piece (separate on each side as we later discovered) inside there are stainless packers that are in contact with the outside of the aluminium rail. Over time the SS and Ali reacted causing the ali to corrode and swell, jamming the rail and trim in place. After removing the retaining screws the only way we could remove was creating a puller with stud, nut, thick piece of steel with a hole in, plus a handy piece that comes with the roller that exactly fits inside the rail. You will also need a packer on one side so you are pulling at the the same angle as the rail. Starting at one end, use the puller to start to pull the rail down, move it 100mm along the rail and repeat. You will need to remove the internal stopper that is inside the rail at the far end because a final screw is underneath. In my case we couldn't remove in situ, but with the puller we managed to pull the rail past the screw and remove it afterwards, but it did bend the screw making it quite hard to remove. Use the old rail as a hole pattern for the new rail - the pre-drilled holes won't be in the right place. Make sure you countersink the holes or the rollers will catch on the screw heads. Clean up the stainless trim and packers. We then used tef-gel to liberally coat any contact points between the ali and stainless, including the screws. Putting the new rail in was easy. Fitting the door is the reverse of the removal, but due to the time and effort required to line up the studs on the rollers, suggest you raise the door on timber to make it easier.
Hope this helps someone and sorry that I didn't take any photos - I thought of posting this after the fact!
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