Changing out the Westsail 42 Companionway

Laminating 2 pieces of 1/4" ply for the base

Checking the camber of the new base

Looking at the job from every angle

Will it leave enough room for the hatch?

Looking at the job from every angle

Does it look right here? How about here?

Sealing the undersides of the turtle with epoxy

Cutting the base to the correct size

Started with Pine rails-Cheaper, then teak rails

Setting up the rails or turtle lifts

Taped and ready for caulk

Intalling the rails permanently

SS Lag bolts secure the rails

Rails Installed

W/ varnishing trim while easily accessable

Forward hatch trim installed before Turtle

Turtle meets companionway trim

Cleaning up companionway trim

Looking good!

Cutting plexi to approximate size

Building hatch sides

Dry fitting hatch

Checking hatch with rails

Keepin it clean

Begining to build Turtle frame

Frame layout

All pieces in place

Ends are screwed and biscuited

Plastic-keeping adhesive off the rails

Fitting base to the frame

Epoxy glue base to frame

Glued and now we wait

A lot of clamps

Ensuring a good solid fit in the corners

Base glued into the frame

Bottom now painted with EasyPoxy

Hatch with turtle set in place

Dryfitting the teak slats

Starting in the middle and working outboard

Middle slats screwed and glued down

Squeezing out the adhesive

Almost finished with the slats

Sanding everything smooth

Cleaning up the corners

Yep! It all fits

Close to the end now

Plugging each screw hole

Signature Finishes first coat

So far quite happy with it.

Multiple coats of Signature Finish Honey Teak

Turtle finally on

Finishing up edges

Wow! Quite happy with the end result

The Process

As we started to refurbish Elysium one of my earlier projects was to add the tongue and groove ceiling to the companionway hatch. I added some reflex insulation, the tongue and grove wood. Then I put it in place and W/ went to check it out. All 100 lbs of her struggled mightily. This was not looking good.

I came up with an alternative. At boat shows many of the modern hatches were thick plexi. You could stand on them and they slid easily. Why not make a slider like the modern boats and make a turtle like our 32 had. A bit more modern than the earlier model Westsails. Quite a bit lower and yet traditional enough that we don't have a clash of two boat cultures.

One change I made from the traditional turtles is the lack of caulking in between the teak strips. Keeping any coating on those on our last boat was a real pain. The look didn't impress me all that much so we installed them without the caulking.

After all, we love the classic look of our home and wanted to keep her looking as lovely as when new.

Our new saying as we redid many of these projects became, "Well she's not New.... She's better than New!"