Making a door

[iseablu]

how about cypress? I'm planning on using it for all wood on my (new) 1977 boat.Rog.

[spareparts]

if you are going to make it out of wood, try epe' decking boards, its similar to teak(a bit heavier) and easy to work with(although its hard as a brick). I've seen some doors using the wood frame and a plexiglass main panel. If you want to do some thing different, try PVC board, its easy to work with and you can paint it. Big boat builders use it to make doors and hatches

[scook]

Yup - Spare is right. Good stuff - I've made some stuff for my boat with it. It machines nice, sands up nice and takes oil well (haven't tried varnishing it but expect that works well too).

If you're looking it up, it's spelled Ipe and pronounced eee-pay. You need to be careful about splitting - be sure to countersink for any flat or oval head screws and use round or pan head or glue if possible. Also, counterbore for every screw so only the threads engage the wood (drill the full diameter of the the screw shank) and lube the hole with a little shot of WD-40 or anything slippery. I've used waterproof white glue like Tightbond or Gorilla Glue. It holds well, but I don't like how Gorilla oozes out all over the place so I prefer white glue.

I like to use wood on my boat but Starboard is low maintenance and wood isn't. If you don't enjoy messing with wood, don't use it.

PVC board sounds interesting - I wonder if it's stiff enough in 1/4" thickness for a dashboard?

[garbubba]

I've used teak, mahogany, & cypress on several boats over the years, all work well, old heart cypress is tough to beat but hard to find.