Sliding Door for C-Dory Cabin??

B

Byrdman

New member
Am I the only C-Dory owner who has been aboard one of the other boats built at our factory, the Orca boat.... and simply loved the way the cabin door slides open rather than swinging open? Wonder if they could make these work on our C-Dorys... Hummm. No more stepping out of the way as the door swings open....and yes...you can put "stuff" there because you do not have to worry about the door swinging open...

Byrdman
 
No Pat, I too love the sliding door on the Orca and even asked Jeff about doing the same on a CD at the SBS. There's two things about the Orca that differ from our CD's that permit a sliding door on them and not on the CD. First the Orcas have a much flatter roof line, second the design has the aisle in the cabin slightly offset from center. This allows the door to be placed a little off center and slide to the left. I don't think the slider would work on the CD's.
 
A bad thing about the sliding doors is that you cannot attach anything to the aft side of the bulkhead where the door will slide. On the C-Dories, just a simple door stop will allow one of those folding seats or some rod/net holders to be mounted. John So, it is a mixed blessing....
 
Good points... and I had the solid clear door on the TC24 so the ability for me to "use" the door was not there....other than something with those little suction cup dillies on them...which are really good for getting use to putting stuff in them....comfortable....then they and their contents hit the floor. I loved my thermometer with the little frog on it. That frog listened very well late night....early mornings and did not complain about missing sleep... :smiled :teeth :smilep :beer :cocktail :clock :embarrased

Yes, I have seen many things mounted on the doors. Still not sure that a door with about gunnel high of the useable component, and the top 2/3rds the clear stuff would not be a good door...
 
you just need A door now Byrdude.
When the door s open, it's taller than the roof , twood make it tough to fab up any kind of decent looking track
 
Caught thinking out loud again-

Any sliding door that would work on an existing Cruiser would have to be cut down in size because of roof and floor curvatures and the top and bottom of the doorway filled in so much that the step over at the bottom and the head clearance at the top would make entry into the cabin much more difficult. A head banger and toe tripper for sure.

The new full-length doors certainly look more modern, but I'm wondering if that visibility back and forth from the cabin to the cockpit at the lower level is typically worth loosing the mouning space on the bottom half of the door and going through the need to cover more area with curtains for privacy.

How about making a Dutch Door out of the traditional Classic/Cruiser wooden door with a fixed window? There are certainly days here where a half open, half closed set up would be very comfortable.

Or one could add an opening window instead of the fixed one. It could have 1) a bottom half that slides up, like most pilothouse center windows, 2) a top hinged window like the one in the front center of the C-Dory, or 3) a Jalouse (sp?) window made up of several glass panels that rotate like a Venetian blind (the type used on many RV's). With this exit screened, it might make natural and fan assisted ventilation a more viable option as oposed to closing everything up and running air conditioning in hot humid climates.

Can anyone see a great enough utility in any of these to justify them in your usage?

Joe.
 
Why yes Joe I can for sure.... especially with a good 1st mate on board in the cabin..... and you and a friend in nice shaded chairs in the cockpit...watching the sun set or fishing....

Ya could just holler-out to er... " Baby....Sensuous up.... hand us another couple of beers thru the door please...."

Now, of course just how the cans were received would for sure be largely dependant on how she felt about being called sensuous in the 1st place..... I guess. Could be why I boat alone so much!! :beer
 
I've thought about both the opening window idea (expensive) and the dutch door (cheap). I like the dutch door idea best. First because it will be fairly easy to do when I rebuild my bulkhead. and I think it will provide a lot better ventilation flow. I also like having the bottom of the door available for some sort of hanging bag for cockpit storage. Since the 18 doesn't have the little shelves under the gunnels like a 22 does cockpit storage is a big issue for all those little things you want handy when fishing.
Norm
 
how about one of those hanging, beaded, 60's style doors? good ventilation, not so good for locking the boat up :)
 
Freebyrd-

Actually, Patrick, I can see you on the roof with your buddy and two sensous woimen, a remote control, and a dumb water (not one of the gals) connected to the refrigerator through the roof. Maybe you could use your military connections to get some form of automated ammunition supply system used on about a 105 mm cannon to hustle the beer cans upstairs from the refer?

Norm S-

Now you're thinking-

Lots of possibilities since you're building your own bulkhead! Joe and Ruth of R-Matey built an excellent bulkhead on a 19 that might be of interest to you. Look in their album, they did a great job!

B~C -

Yup, get out those bell-bottoms, tie-dyed shirts, and grow back the beard! Maybe you can also get Marge to dress up on a gypsy outfilt, get a neon "Palms Read" sign for the side window, and go into business down on the Portland waterfront on the weekends as "Madame LaFarce". Beer money, anyway!


Joe.
 
Joe, agree they did a great job. Fortunately my boat, unlike byrdmans' does already have the bulkhead and door. It's just kinda hammered from 20 yrs of neglect. I refinished it with cetol last summer and it helped but the fake woodgrain they used back then didn't hold up to the elements too well. I could just paint it but the boss likes the wood look so I will eventually duplicate it in teak ply. Spendy but I know that if she isn't happy I sure as heck won't be. When I do I'll just move the window up a bit so I can have enough space between it and the latch to make it a dutch door.
Norm
 
Now Joe and B-C.... it would not be complete without the lava lamp up there too... Hey, I think I have one up in the atic... Hummm Talk about a sundowner.
 
Why do I suddenly hear Iron Butterly playing Inagadanaveda.... :note all 17 minutes and 3 seconds of it in my head.... :note :note

Ya gotta :hug love :hug2 those days...at least the ones we remember. :love

Wow...another miricale that I live thru that.... :mrgreen: :smiled :teeth

Inagadanaveda baby....don't ya know that I'll always be true... :note :moon :rainbow :cocktail :beer :cigar :wink:
 
Been following this thread a bit...

Thought I'd chime in and tell my thoughts...

I too would like to use the space behind the door... I'd like to mount a couple of jump seats to the bulkhead. You can see them here:

http://orrorr.com/productNEW.asp?TID=%7 ... 7D&IID=387

I have seen them at $138.00. The nice thing is that when you stand they automatically fold up, out of the way... more room for landing "the big one."

But what to do with that door?

Here's my idea. Swap out the hinges for pin style hinges. The door works as always. But you can open the door, lift up and the door comes off the hinges... turn it lengthwise and make a place for it aft laying sideways at the rear just in front of the engine area. It's out of the way, yet available. When in place, closed and locked it can not be lifted off the hinges. Shouldn't take too much to do this and I think it should work out OK. I have noticed that when I am fishing the door is usually latched open anyway.

 
This may sound corny, but couldn't a guy make a "roll-up" type door for the C-Dory? You could remove the regular door in an easily reverisble fashion for the fishing trip, then have tracks for a removable roll type door.... or canvas? ...or use those flexible vertical plastic strips like they use in warehouses for fork lifts? Well, just daydreaming.
 
Another way to gain that space is to replace the door with a bi-fold door. Take a look at the door Joe installed on R-Matey when he did his custom bulkhead on an angler. While his is not a bi-fold is does split down the middle - it takes up a lot less space in the cockpit when open. I've thought about a similar idea but simply making the door a bi-fold for the same reason of want clear access to that bulkhead space. I'll probably never get around to it but I think it's a reasonable idea.
 
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