Sticking doors

Howdy Folks,

Our new to us boat (IP40) has been great to date but we have one annoying issue. The doors to the forward cabin and head don't close fully. This has become a bit of an inconvenience and I'd like to address it when we're on the boat again over the holidays in Abaco.

It looks to me like IP just builds these things to such tight tolerances (a great thing in most cases) that moving the boat down to the tropics from it's previous home in Maryland causes the door to swell just enough to be an issue. It seems like it would be a fairly simple matter to just sand/plane the edges of the door a bit to address this issue but I'm concerned with keeping things looking nice.

Has anyone else tackled this and if so, any suggestions for how to best handle it from a fit/finish perspective?

Thanks,
Erin

Erin:
We have used a hand plane on our IP doors. It is easy, and can take care of the problem. Go for it, take the door off the hinges, and run a hand plan on it.
Hayden

Thanks Hayden,

Stupid question, but any tricks to matching the curve or the doors when planing? It's hard to tell how much I'll need to shave off to get them clear and while we need functioning doors, we want to keep them looking nice.

Also any suggestions for matching the stain color and finish on the doors when done?

Erin:

With a small hand plane and with planing down hill related to the grain direction, you can plan the curve. Just take it slow and take off a very little bit at a time. As for stain, you could simply use teak oil to reseal the edge. I would not use a stain at first.

Hayden

We've had the same problem with the door to the forward cabin on our IP38. I found the center and lower door hinges slightly bent. I removed, straightened, and reinstalled them. That fixed the problem without having to disturb the teak. You might give it a try.

We've had the same doors sticking twice. Have hand sanded them down twice and then wipe a little of the teak oil that came with the boat on them. I'll have to look at the hinges. Not sure why we've had to do the same thing the last two seasons (northern WI/MI climates).