I’ve got a huge backlog of articles to write about stuff that’s been finished for a while. So I’m going to try and clear out as many as I can while we’re in this cold snap and it’s just too cold to do much of anything else. First up: the door to the v-berth.
But first, a quick refresher on what I started with.
The original V-berth door was in the middle of the galley bulkhead
After a lot of effort, with the exception of the flooring and some cabinet doors, the v-berth is done. But back in 2019, before the headliner got installed, I made the sliding door to the room out of a Tricel panel, mahogany veneer faces and edgebanding, some scrap 8/4 mahogany, and a heavy duty drawer slide.
First, cut the Tricel panel to fit the height of the door opening
Then cut it length-wise to fit the width
Test fit viewed from the salon
The view from the V-berth
For the edges of the door, I use a Harbor Freight multi-tool to remove 1/2″ or so of the Tricel honeycomb. Then I cut mahogany strips that just fit between the two Tricel face panels where the honeycomb used to be. After wetting out the mahogany and the panel with epoxy, and slathering on epoxy thickened with wood flour, I pushed the mahogany into the gaps and lightly clamped the panel faces until just a bit of epoxy glue squeezed out. That gave the door a solid wood edge all the way around the perimeter. Come back the next day, trim the edges flat, and the door was ready for mahogany veneers and edge-banding.
And just like that…the veneers are done!
Door handles get fitted before I varnished the door
After sanding with 240 grit Mirka Abranet, I moved the doors (I did the head door at the same time) to the aft deck for varnish.
Three coats of ICA base coat turned out very nice
While the varnish cured, I turned a piece of scrap mahogany into a pretty stick that the drawer slide and door will attach to. This is an unconventional approach for sliding door hardware, but the drawer slide worked out really well.
I cut this leftover 8/4 mahogany scrap from the toe rail to length
Next, I jointed the stick on my MiniMax FSB35
Under the rough exterior, there was some pretty mahogany just waiting to come out.
Nice!
Marking off the width needed for the drawer slide
The slide is half of a Sugatsune 26″ stainless steel full-extension side mount drawer set with ball bearings and a soft-close feature, the latter of which turned out to be far cooler than I imagined for a sliding door.
The slide is dry fitted and the mahogany is drilled for screws and cut to the curve of the forward deck overhead
Looks good!
I drilled up through the mahogany into the aluminum deck frame overhead, then tapped those holes for 8-32 machine screws. This turned out pretty slick. You can only see the drawer slide if you’re looking directly up at it from the doorway.
Next, I attached the slide to the door, then separated the slide halves
After attaching the main slide body to the mahogany piece, I slid the slide halves back together
At this point, the door, slide, and mahogany piece were a single assembly.
Ready to lift the assembly up into the overhead pocket and install the screws
Nice!
My v-berth has a sliding door!
With the dry fitting all done, I pulled the whole thing down, took it apart, and varnished the mahogany piece.
The grain is so pretty, it’s a shame only the bottom will be visible
Three coats later, it’s ready for final installation
That turned out pretty slick
OEM Chris Craft sliding door hardware chromed up real nice
I’m glad I kept the old hardware
Boom…done
The door keeps almost all dust from the salon workshop out of the v-berth. And that soft-close feature is so cool. On a drawer, that feature pulls the drawer closed and keeps it that way. It also keeps the drawers from being slammed shut. But in this application, you slide the door open, and in the last four inches or so, the slider takes over. It not only pulls it open that last bit (and preventing slamming), it holds the door open without needing a latch.
V-berth head door looks good, too
Gotta love the rechromed original hardware
Next up in our 1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Aft Stateroom Doors
1969chriscraftroamer46 