I had never previously seen one of these except for the version used in stables. That type was from my memory of a time in a very benign climate, so was a little less weather proof than what I had in mind for Binary.
Why a vertical double door when all the flash cats have bi-folds, tri-folds and centrefolds? I have even seen a 44C where most of the BCB slides away to leave a wonderful indoor/outdoor arrangement. Well for us, it is all about security, from the weather and whatever else, and at the same time we are also still trying to have a boat that is for the tropics. However, Binary is going to visit the world and we need a door to meet that.
Maybe its being able to have a secured lower with the upper open to view the sea or the crocodile that has just crawled into the aft cockpit. However I have to admit a major part was that we needed the whole door to swing and stow conformably, so one part needs to go up against the hardtop along with the hatches, and one to swing against the BCB beneath those hatches.
So with these major parameters we had to work out how it would work, appear and be built. I had two very nicely sized off cuts of 25mm Duflex laying about from the aft bunk entrances which is might seem overkill but it sure gives that DOOR sort of feeling.
Actually 25mm Duflex is about 28mm thick with the laminates, so it gave me room to work with cutting female molds (trenches) to achieve both a sealed and L shaped edge in one go. So I started by doing a first version of the plan, drawn on the peel ply still covering most of the BCB – below.
Below – I then commenced this part of the plan for the lower door and photographed it before starting the router.
Below – the lower door L shaped joining edge female mold (trenches), routed into the Duflex and following are photos of the lay-up and overfill forming the molded edge and and some light sanding, the morning after. I then used the router with a rabbeting bit to remove the mold and expose the unidirectionals wrapped in 400gram double bias – last below.
The Scrumble Project 