Hard to Open Cabin Door

[Moose]

Silicone spray does the job! Both upper and lower tracks. Clean well before applying.

 

[280 SeaRay]

Honestly, my three kids, a couple of guest kids and a bag of potato chips, cheese and crackers can fix this for you in a couple of hours.

Precisely why food is only served (and eaten) at the table. My 10 nieces and nephews have the potential to make a mess if you allow them to.

 

[KC WV]

I had the same problem on my 215 door when I bought it. Opening the door was like a reinactment of the resurection of Christ...

After finding the top nylon slide was loose, allowing the door to become misaligned, I made the commitment to remove the door to repair. The screws fastening the slide to the door were stripped. I replaced with larger screws, and cleaned and lubed the tracks when re-installing the door.

From going through this chore, we always ensure the door is fully closed and latched before ascending the steps. This reduces the stress on the tracks and prevents another misalignment.

 

[Presentation]

Precisely why food is only served (and eaten) at the table. My 10 nieces and nephews have the potential to make a mess if you allow them to.

Hey Jeremy, look under your scale on the post I am quoting. I was giving you some of my “I approve” on your reply above and when I hit enter you went from two green dots to three. Congratulations on joining the 3 green dot group.

 

[280 SeaRay]

haha that rocks.... thank you sir.

 

[dpvandy01]

Clean and clean some more if still difficult I've used "Headway Dry" is is a dry silicone lubricant spray mand by Drummond American. We use it for many applications at the fire house. it goes on dry and does not attract dirt. I use it on my trailer hitch as well.

 

[Chas]

Thanks everyone for the responses. I will work on it this weekend and let you know what I did and if it worked.

 

[NorthvilleJim]

My 1 year standard SeaRay warranty was up this month, so instead of trying to screw around with my hard to slide cabin door, I added it to my punch list. I just got the boat back last night, they told me that one of the slides was broken. In order to fix, they have to remove the door, which involves removing the entire dash enclosure. What a job! They allow 14 hours to complete the job, which involves having to recaulk the entire fiberglass dash after it is re-installed.

Needless to say, we will now being very careful with how we handle this door.

1) No slamming the door
2) No using the steps to get on the deck unless the door is fully closed
3) It was also recommended to use compressed air to periodically blow dirt/debris out of the tracks. For those of us who don't have access to an air compressor at the dock, the canned compressed air used for cleaing computer keyboards will do the trick.
4) Also learned that a properly adjusted door with clean tracks should require NO additional lubrication.

Hope this helps someone else.

 

[Hampton]

Congrats! Good rules to live by. Something else highly technical that applies here: Another great device to clean your keyboard is - gravity. Turn it upside down and shake it. I don't know if that would work with the door. I bet it would, but I'm not sure it would be worth the effort.

 

[NorthvilleJim]

Congrats! Good rules to live by. Something else highly technical that applies here: Another great device to clean your keyboard is - gravity. Turn it upside down and shake it. I don't know if that would work with the door. I bet it would, but I'm not sure it would be worth the effort.

Thanks for the technical tip. Now why didn't I think of that.:huh:

 

[jim_m5]

I took a candle and rubbed it along the track. I do it once a mnth or so. Works great!

 

[Steve.Lynette]

Clean the living crap out of the tracks and the slides. Use aggressive soap and warm water. Rinse, rinse, rinse, rinse, then wash and clean some more. There will be tons of goo, hair, dirt, grease, and slime. It works best clean and dry. Take it apart to clean it if you need to. Good luck. They're not great, but they work well when clean.

Here's a dumb question: It's been wisely suggested that one should use a hose to spray the crap out of the track. How do you prevent the spray from going into the cabin during the process? Ours has become nearly impossible to open/close, so I'm willing to try anything!