Leaking side doors/hatch - saloon door style

[jrprintmax]

Hello, all - I have a traditional style narrow boat with portholes - also side double door hatch - through which, over the last few years I am getting rain water in - is there available an external cover arrangement to weatherproof these saloon style doors, please? Where to buy? or can I make something suitable? Many thanks in anticipation, John 

[Jen-in-Wellies]

Pictures? Having trouble visualising what it looks like from your description. Where is the water getting in?. If water is getting round the edges, then I just used simple rubber seals like this on my boats side hatch. An external cover will still need sealing in some way, or water will just run down the back and on to the hatch. The only covers I have seen have either been simply to protect windows from stone throwing kids on boats moored in less salubrious areas, or canvas covers to protect the interiors of big gin palaces from sunlight. Neither is what you are asking about.

Jen

[jrprintmax]

Thanks for the reply, Jen. I have no piccies at the moment (and the boat is 250 miles away - so later). The doors are on the side flush with the sides (no windows). I feel that there is no room for a rubber seal but I'll have to check this out. The rain is entering at the bottom of the two doors between the steel body and the internal wood skin (the floor is completely rotten and needs replacing!!). Perhaps I need to seal the bottom of the door frame with a sort of mastic trowelled into a sealing position?

Edited November 26, 2017 by jrprintmax

[WotEver]

Some side doors are really poorly designed and I think Jen’s correct that we really need to see pictures to assist any further. 

[Slim]

I have side doors (both sides) and they don't leak at all. As I read it your doors are flush with the cabin sides. Is there an overlap between the doors and a) themselves and b) the top/bottom?. Also do you have a drip rail above the doors?

 

 

Frank

 

Agree that photos would help. Are you 'techie' enough to do a line drawing. (I'm not)

Edited November 26, 2017 by Slim

[jrprintmax]

Thank you, WotEver - I'll post some piccies as soon as I return to me boat!!

[jrprintmax]

To Slim Frank

 There is overlap all round and across the two doors and there is a drip rail above the two doors but somehow rain is still getting in - worse on the prevailing weather side but quite bad on both

[mrsmelly]

13 minutes ago, jrprintmax said:

To Slim Frank

 There is overlap all round and across the two doors and there is a drip rail above the two doors but somehow rain is still getting in - worse on the prevailing weather side but quite bad on both

Hi

 

It may help if you state who built the shell and or put the doors in? Many of us have had differing types by well known manufacturers who may have solved you particular problem in the past.

[Jen-in-Wellies]

7 minutes ago, jrprintmax said:

To Slim Frank

 There is overlap all round and across the two doors and there is a drip rail above the two doors but somehow rain is still getting in - worse on the prevailing weather side but quite bad on both

Sounds similar to mine. Rain gutter over the top and an overlap between the two doors, but nothing preventing water running down the gap at the hinges. This let in rain when the prevailing wind hit it. Solved it with the sealing strip I linked to in the first reply, run across the top and down the two sides. The bottom edge was left clear to allow water to find its way outside. Worked OK for ten years now.

 

 

[jrprintmax]

Ah, Jen - very much the same (now that I have seen your piccies). I have just remembered that I have a set of pictures from when the boat was born as single sheets of flat steel (60 feet long in 2003) - there may something there - I'll check and post. On reflection there is no overlap on the hinge sides, just across the doors (in the middle) - so your idea may well be good. Thanks. But there is still gaps at the bottom of the door frames and this, I believe needs sealing with something (?).

[BWM]

On our last boat we discovered that the wood below had begun to decay, after trying various sealing methods I discovered the leak was entering through a tiny pin hole in a weld at the bottom of the door surround-amazing how much water found it's way in through something you could barely see. 

[Jen-in-Wellies]

It is hard to see in the photo, but at the bottom of the hatch opening the wood slopes outwards and has good contact with the cabin metal side. If this is a good hardwood and well painted, then I didn't see any need for any more sealing at this point. The slope allows any water to drain overboard. I didn't place a sealing strip on this side as I didn't want to potentially interfere with drainage. It could be possible for water to get between the wood and steel and I check for this fairly regularly by looking for rust and softening of the wood, but no evidence yet. Yours may be different.

[jrprintmax]

It is hard to see in the photo, but at the bottom of the hatch opening the wood slopes outwards and has good contact with the cabin metal side. If this is a good hardwood and well painted, then I didn't see any need for any more sealing at this point. The slope allows any water to drain overboard. I didn't place a sealing strip on this side as I didn't want to potentially interfere with drainage. It could be possible for water to get between the wood and steel and I check for this fairly regularly by looking for rust and softening of the wood, but no evidence yet. Yours may be different.

 

Yes, Jen, there is a sizeable gap all the way along the bottom of the frame between the steel wall and the wood frame - I do not know if there is a wood lath missing or if the internal skin has just shrunk away - I need to seal that bottom frame (with a slight slope outwards, like you said, to guide the water out down the side of the boat. Any ideas? Perhaps something like a car body filler, sanded and then painted? Or, if  there is enough leeway between the bottom of the doors and the frame, a thin lath of hardwood? But the rubber strips that you have put in are brilliant for the sides and the top. Thank you so much for your pictures and comments. John.

[Jen-in-Wellies]

11 minutes ago, jrprintmax said:

Yes, Jen, there is a sizeable gap all the way along the bottom of the frame between the steel wall and the wood frame - I do not know if there is a wood lath missing or if the internal skin has just shrunk away - I need to seal that bottom frame (with a slight slope outwards, like you said, to guide the water out down the side of the boat. Any ideas? Perhaps something like a car body filler, sanded and then painted? Or, if  there is enough leeway between the bottom of the doors and the frame, a thin lath of hardwood? But the rubber strips that you have put in are brilliant for the sides and the top. Thank you so much for your pictures and comments. John.

Body filler sounds good. You would get a nice bond to the steelwork and it would be weather tight. I've always thought that there should be a welded steel lip round the edge of the hatch opening on my boat, rather than wood right up to the 5mm platework. If you can weld, or know someone who can, then a steel strip there is perhaps another possibility. Just as long as the lining doesn't get set on fire!

Jen

[ditchcrawler]

I have used this http://www.toolandfix.com/fixman-678898-self-adhesive-e-profile-weather-strip-3-5mm-15m-white.html?utm_source=google_shopping&gclid=Cj0KCQiA6enQBRDUARIsAGs1YQivuPDbeDNj5xXa8IcGchJolPsWwbs5A2bSyfd2t4yu-vvKmFFkFkwaAhKxEALw_wcB

9 hours ago, Jen-in-Wellies said:

Body filler sounds good. You would get a nice bond to the steelwork and it would be weather tight. I've always thought that there should be a welded steel lip round the edge of the hatch opening on my boat, rather than wood right up to the 5mm platework. If you can weld, or know someone who can, then a steel strip there is perhaps another possibility. Just as long as the lining doesn't get set on fire!

Jen

I have that and intend to fold a piece of ally to fit and glue it in place with silkeflex. At the moment it as aluminium tape on it

[jrprintmax]

Thank you, Ditchcrawler - and everybody who has contributed to help me on this problem - much appreciated, John