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Double doors on my wide beam fore and aft are really annoying?


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37 minutes ago, alistair1537 said:

But what locks that into place?

 

With those bolts going through the side runner angle the hatch can't be lifted or crowbarred open. When it's closed the hatch can't be lifted at the front either.

 

IMG_20210124_104450.jpg

 

IMG_20210124_104434.jpg

Edited by blackrose
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16 minutes ago, David Mack said:

That's exactly what I thought of doing - but as the hinges on the doors of my barge don't extend below the deck, I thought a hydraulic piston on each door would be be an easier add on. 

 

Still, the simplicity of the counter-drive of the crossed chain is very charming. Thanks for the post.

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25 minutes ago, blackrose said:

 

With those bolts going through the side runner angle the hatch can't be lifted or crowbarred open. When it's closed the hatch can't be lifted at the front either.

 

IMG_20210124_104450.jpg

 

IMG_20210124_104434.jpg

Ah, so you have a very secure rear door. But no external access. I've done the same sort of thing at the bow doors - I have a 5 lever lock there too, but no key hole on the outside.

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2 minutes ago, alistair1537 said:

That's exactly what I thought of doing - but as the hinges on the doors of my barge don't extend below the deck, I thought a hydraulic piston on each door would be be an easier add on. 

You could do the same at the top of the doors. 

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12 minutes ago, Dr Bob said:

What's wrong with opening two doors?

You live on a boat. You have two doors!

And when I'm carrying parcels and such, I have one free hand. I live on a boat. If you lived in a house with two smallish french doors that required both opening to access, would you be making the same noises? Or, would you be thinking of ways to improve it?

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2 hours ago, alistair1537 said:

As the title says - having to use two hands to open and close the companionway doors all the time is really annoying to the point of distraction...or invention.

 

Is there any system that opens both doors if either one door is moved - I'm thinking of a small hydraulic system that links the doors, so that when one door is moved, that movement is transferred to the other door so that they operate on tandem. Could a hydraulic steering system be adapted? 

 

Any thoughts or ideas? Please no naysayers.

Surly a majority of boats have double doors both at the stern and the bow, I know some have a single off set door at the bows, this is both narrow and wide beam boats.

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12 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

Surly a majority of boats have double doors both at the stern and the bow, I know some have a single off set door at the bows, this is both narrow and wide beam boats.

Most boats do have double doors, this saves space when leaving them open whilst cruising or in summer - and don't call me Surly!!!

 

 

 

 

Edited by alistair1537
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I think there may be a problem with your idea to use hydraulic/pneumatic cylinders unless you can come up with a system that extends one cylinder whilst retracting the other. The reason being that the cross sectional areas either side of the pistons are not the same because the piston rod creates an annular space.

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It is traditional in this country to have crap doors which have rattly locks with sqeaky handles (despite being expensive). I think linking the doors is a great idea, with some form of linkage at the top if possible.  Powered and Alexa'ed if possible.

(StarTrek doors would be the ideal, provided they came without personality disorders.)

Edited by system 4-50
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1 hour ago, alistair1537 said:

Ah, so you have a very secure rear door. But no external access. I've done the same sort of thing at the bow doors - I have a 5 lever lock there too, but no key hole on the outside.

 

Yes, as I said I use the bow doors as my main access point but I usually unlock the hatch from the inside while I'm cruising and if I stop somewhere and want to lock the stern I can lock it from the outside. But it's never locked from the outside while I'm aboard.

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1 hour ago, alistair1537 said:

And when I'm carrying parcels and such, I have one free hand. I live on a boat. If you lived in a house with two smallish french doors that required both opening to access, would you be making the same noises? Or, would you be thinking of ways to improve it?

I have double doors fore and aft, the aft ones open into the wheelhouse and like yours a bit of a pain. So I made them bifold whis is okay for me as they only need to keep in heat my hatch is also bifold again doesn't have to stop water, for me its also space efficient. I do get your problem hence my mods 

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2 hours ago, alistair1537 said:

And when I'm carrying parcels and such, I have one free hand. I live on a boat. If you lived in a house with two smallish french doors that required both opening to access, would you be making the same noises? Or, would you be thinking of ways to improve it?

 

Err??
You open the one door with your spare hand and push the second one with your body. 
Ergo, both doors open!

Or you need to employ a butler!

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2 hours ago, alistair1537 said:

And when I'm carrying parcels and such, I have one free hand. I live on a boat. If you lived in a house with two smallish french doors that required both opening to access, would you be making the same noises? Or, would you be thinking of ways to improve it?

 

Why don't you just put the parcels down while opening the doors? That's what I do and it's really no great hardship. 

 

I've been living on boats for nearly 20 years and never found it a problem. 

 

If I lived in a house with the same doors I'd probably do something about it because there's no reason for pairs of small double doors in a house.

 

Anyway, it's horses for courses, there are some things about living aboard that I don't like that probably wouldn't bother you. If you install a better door solution I'm sure we'll all be interested.

 

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5 hours ago, blackrose said:

 

Why does it remind you of that? None of my doors or hatches are locked from the outside and nowhere have I said or implied that.

reminds me only because I, like you, had a Scouse widebeam and my neighbour had an identical boat.  Ours were 57x10.  I had forgotten about my neighbour until you mentioned accessing your boat from the bow doors.

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46 minutes ago, Mike55 said:

I think there may be a problem with your idea to use hydraulic/pneumatic cylinders unless you can come up with a system that extends one cylinder whilst retracting the other. The reason being that the cross sectional areas either side of the pistons are not the same because the piston rod creates an annular space.

Point taken. You're assuming of course that the bore are equal in size? What if the slave cylinder is equal to the bore of the master, less the piston rod?

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