cabin door slider

Xplicitlnck

Xplicitlnck

Well-Known Member
Jan 2, 2012
4,030
Long island ny
Boat Info
330ec
Engines
Twin 7.4 straight drive
Ok everybody I have read allot about this problem on my model. The sliders breaking off and the door not sliding. ofcoarse I never thought it would happen to me but it did both to sliders came off and out of the track so there its nothing supporting the top of the door.. The bottom seems to b ok but will b changing that also. I know there is allot of info about how to fix this but I can't seem to find it. Anybody have a link to it? I'm also looking for a kit our what kind of track and sliders to use. I want to upgrade to wheels if possible.anybody have any idea were to buy what I need. And do I really need to pull the helm out?? What a pita thanks everybody
 
I just posted this question. Also tried for awhile to search on several terms and got NO hits at all. Interesting/sad to hear this is a common failure. Did you have any luck finding a fix?
 
Last edited:
Sorry guys gave up on checking back to this thread after a couple days of no answers but just checked.and ill c what happens. I'm going to contact searay and.c.what they have to say I will keep you posted
 
slugo4449 said:
Try this link to C.R. Laurence for hardware:

http://www.crlaurence.com/crlapps/showline/default.aspx?GroupID=4632&History=3252

There is supposed to be a plate in the top or the bottom of the door that keeps theives from lifting the door out. You must remove the screwed in plate and then pry the door up.

Good luck
73,
Marty
KG6QKJ
Click to expand...

I wonder if he has to remove the helm to remove the door, like I did. That's a long story.
I have to laugh at our efforts to lock up our stuff, like designing boat doors with a plate and screws that have to be removed or buying the best, most hardened lock for our house. I have friends in Russia who have seen our doors and ask, "why," the doors and walls are made out of wood. If that were the case in Russia, quick work with a sawzall would open any door, wood or fiberglass. So a plate and screws on a boat door is no security feature. A quick blow with a sledge hammer will break the lock or the substrate it is attached to.
 
Last edited:
This is just my opinion, but I'm not so sure I would want to change to wheels. Especially on a smaller cruiser, the track area tends to collect a lot of debris. If there were wheels in there, I think they would get plugged up worse than a slider. Plus, the wheels would be harder to clean out. With the tracks, you just spray a little Simple Green in there, then blast it out a few times with a hose. If you can pick up the door a bit (just get it free of the track), it makes blasting out the track even better. I think with the wheels, you'd end up getting stuff stuck inside the wheels and that would be hard to clean.

When the sliders are in good condition (and relatively clean), it's actually quite easy to open/close the door. One or two fingers is all you really need. Again, just a thought from a different perspective.

The only way I know of to get the door out is to tilt the helm back and out of the way. I seem to recall reading a thread on here about someone that did it w/o removing the helm, but I don't recall the process off hand.

Another thought... I have no experience with wheels... But (playing devil's advocate a little here) how do we know that the wheels will last any longer than the track system and how do we know what set of wheels are a good one? You got 12 or 13 years out of the current setup - that ain't too bad for something that takes a lot of abuse. Not just opening and closing, but every time you hit a wave it gets a good jolt.
 
Last edited:
Kreole Kid said:
I know his boat is different from mine, but, I saved this link from John "Hampton" when he replaced his. My door requires an old "Fred Sanford" trick to open it up. The newer style trucks now come with ball bearings so I would think it should be a better design...

http://clubsearay.com/showthread.php/6582-Replacing-Companionway-Door-Tracks-340
Click to expand...

That's good to know and I hope that it is, indeed, a better design (and robust). Thanks for that link - I'll have to read through it a bit more as I'm not sure (from the first read) that my 260DA (or the '99 270DA) has the necessary access to do it w/o removing the helm. But, I hope it does as I'm sure my trucks will now fail since I am writing about them. Our doors are different, too - since they also have the steps (to the foredeck) built into them.

I've helped with a dash removal (but I wasn't there start to finish) and it wasn't that big of deal, but it would be good to know if our style of door (and tracks/trucks) can be changed w/o removal as well.
 
Not that it's that big of a deal but I do not want too remove the helm so I've been thinking and drawing and drawing and thinking and I think I figured out a way too fix it using the original blocks. I'm guna go into the machine shop tomorrow and make a bracket out of flat stock stainless steal. Wrap it in the sea ray headliner fabric sslide the plastic block over screw it to the plate and screw the plate to the top of the door a couple inches aft of the plastic block. Please before I do this any objections or thighs on why it won't work see greatly welcomed before I make holes....thanks
 
Going to start the attack today. Found ssome high impact plastic at work that I'm gonna try to make new sliders out of and c what happens. Will post pics along the way
 
Well didn't quiet do it the way I planned but the door now s slides like a puck on ice. I was very hesatent on doing this but simply drilled 2holes on threw the top of the door per slider coUNter sUnk them and screwed the sliders to the door and sealed with ptex if you look really close you can c it but it won't even show in pictures being the reason I didn't post any. But it works great I would choose this over removing them helm anyday
 
X,
You may have gotten more thoughts on this before you drilled if you didn't ask for "thighs"! LOL

That being said, you may want to market this to other similar boat owners as it seems this could be R&R'd in the future too without further drilling or moving of the helm. Well done!
 
Td
Ya lost me there lol thighs? You def confused me. R and r'd lost me there to please explain sorry for my stupidity lol
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Forum statistics

Threads
113,253
Messages
1,429,373
Members
61,133
Latest member
Willbeckett
Back
Top