Cuddy door latch

[jeadstx]

I went with marine plywood because it is hard to find teak plywood.

John

[GreenLake]

Aesthetically, I blieve teak would be the best choice. However, teak isn't offered down at my local Lowes/Home Depot stores, even marine grade plywood is hard to find. Maybe it's the curse of being in Indiana.

Outdoor grade plywood might be workable, esp. if you seal it with a coat of epoxy (and then varnish or paint). Using a water-based (!) stain you could try to give it a different color (oil-based stains may interfere with the epoxy). Epoxy must be protected from UV by painting (best) or varnishing with a varnish that has UV inhibitors.

By sealing the wood, you prevent moisture cycling which will both prolong the life of the wood (and make it less necessary to get marine grade) as well as prevent the micro-cracking in the varnish that comes from the wood expanding/contracting underneath.

[talbot]

I support the idea of 1/4" plywood with supports. My hatch (pictured early in the thread) is way overbuilt. A lighter hatch is easier to install/remove, and can be shaped to the contours of the bulkhead. That second factor may not be obvious, but on my boat, the bulkhead is not nearly flat. My rigid hatch is very hard to seal. I installed oak braces to minimize the bulkhead warp and use the thickest gasket material I could find.

Much of what is sold as marine plywood in chain stores here uses fir and does not actually hold up very well. A local wooden-boat hobbyist told me we can do just as well for less money buying top grade external construction plywood and sealing it with epoxy. Search the wooden-boat building sites for sources of marine materials like teak, okuome, and below-waterline plywood.

Talbot
DS 6546 Blue Moon

[SUNBIRD]

From 1971 (first year for the DS II) until about 1972-3 (It appears that they phased in the larger opening during 1973), the cuddy opening on the DS II was slightly smaller than on the 1973-85 models, and O'DAY offered a vinyl-coated canvas cover that was held on by "Dot fasteners" (I think that is the usual term?) standard snap buttons like seen on many canvas covers.
Later (1973?-85, and all of the DS III years) the cuddy opening was enlarged slightly and the optional covers were made of teak-faced plywood with vent slots cut in them. These are the same as what D&R Marine now sells. Rudy has made a few slight improvements over the O'DAY originals, including a stainless-steel plate over the slot for that locking tab (I suspect if you called D&R he would still sell those tabs?) to protect the wood. At least on my boat, the slot on the D&R made cover is relocated slightly (1-2") from my original. Not hard to re-locate tab to compensate.

[jeadstx]

I have a fabric cover that is for a DS II that I picked up somewhere. I've seen the same cover listed elsewhere as a DS II cover. There are snaps (on the cover) to secure it over the cuddy hatch doors. There is a zippered opening for the mainsheet. It really doesn't fit the length of the cockpit or the width however. It would supply sufficient cover for the cuddy opening however.

John

[talbot]

I have a boat made in April 1973, and it came with the fabric cover. So they were still making that version of bulkhead in '73.