J/30 Class Association Forums J/30 Forum The Boat, Sails and Equipment Companionway hatch track

My wife wants me to replace the plastic track for the sliding companionway hatch. It has broken in several places and is rather sharp. (Personally, I like it that way! It lets people know not to put their weight on the tracks when going above/below! ;-)

TPI apparently still sells it in 5 foot lengths.

Now I have some guesses about how to go about doing this. From what I can see, there's a large cover that screws down into the deck, then the hatch track in question screws sideways into the deck. But I have no idea what to do with the sliding hatch itself. Also, are those wood screws (If my memory serves, it can't be through-bolted) and do the cover and track screw into balsa core? Before I buy parts and rip open the companionway, I'd like to know what I'm getting myself into. ;-) Could someone who has already done it please provide a step-by-step guide?

Assuming I don't find water damage, is this something I can reasonably do in a day at the boatyard? Is a 5 foot length of track long enough for one side?

Thanks,
Ryan Pierce, #337

[This message has been edited by rdpierce (edited 04-04-2004).]

Hi Ryan - relatively easy job. Remove cover by removing wood screws. Under it there is a block screwed to the hatch that you remove to slide the hatch free. Then more screws to remove the track. There's wood - looks like plywood - inside the raised deck. Mine had some moisture. I wanted to make the job bigger so I drilled large (e.g., .5") clearing holes down to intersect the horizontal screw holes (and also where the vertical cover screws were placed) and dried and filled w/epoxy. Don't know if 5' is enough (I did all this for fun - didn't need to replace track). If you skip the epoxy and just caulk, can easily do in a couple hours.

5 feet is enough for 1 side you will most likly find a little water damage i filled yhr holes and used a good quality adheasive sealent and glued the tracks back on no holes = no water no leaks just clamp in place for a day not a lot of pressure is needed beacuse the run is fairly stright it has been i place for 5

Thank you!

This does look like a doable project, and anything to make the wife happier about the boat is always a good thing. ;-) I just called TPI, and they are shipping me new track. (FYI, the website price is old, current price is $17 per 5' section.)

Ryan Pierce, #337

You can get metal track similar to the existing plastic track from your local lowe's or Home Depot. Very inexpensive (~$8), and very sturdy. I saw this first on George Hero's boat, Gritz, and shamelessly stole the idea.
Works great.

I also found moisture in the wood rails. I drilled out alot of the really damp wood, and filled with epoxy. Works great.

I, too, bought the track expecting it to be a relatively easy job. I've had the track for at least 5 yrs and haven't installed it yet! When I removed the screws that hold the seahood down, I found the previous owner had used some type of sealant/adhesive around the perimeter between the cabin molding and the seahood. With that length of glue bead, it's a very strong seal. I haven't tried an exorbitant amount of force, because I'm afraid of breaking something ... like cracking the seahood. The other option would be to bring wedges and attempting to work from one edge around to the other side. Another idea would be to use something like a piano wire "garrotte" to slice through the sealant all the way around the perimiter.

I worked a small putty knife through the sealant to remove the seahood. Took a while, but it worked. I then replaced the busted plastic with aluminum track. Its held up great for 5 years so far.

I also ran into a problem in trying to remove the seahood and simply replaced the track that is visible. Just cut out the existing track as close to the seahood as possible and replace. It has worked fine. The only down side is a very small gap between the old and new, that hasn't made any difference in the sliding operation of the hatch.

would using metal track neccessitate bonding to the grounding system or are you guys abandoning that concept?

I did not bond my aluminum track to ground. It has not shown any corrosion so far.