transom door

[swboater]

We own a 1979 mainship trawler. We love it and after 6 years have gotten almost all of the minor issues fixed. Now time to move on to our want's. Has anyone converted transom to a walk through?(added a door)? Also, flybridge ladder is getting more difficult for wife to use. Newer Mainships have molded in stairs. Any ideas? Thanks.

 

[Comodave]

Lots of people have added transom doors to boats like yours. You do have to make sure you beef up the transom around the new door to replace the strength that will be lost. You can do it yourself if you have good DIY skills. As to the ladder, that is an issue due to the height and lack of room in the cockpit to make stairs instead of a ladder. Maybe a circular stairs might not take up as much room. You might make a mockup out of wood to see if it is even feasible. Then contact a S/S fabricator to see what the staggering cost will be, Good luck.

 

[swboater]

Thanks, might go with circular stairs.

 

[jleonard]

I owned one and had a plan to make a really strong transom door, and retain the transom integrity but we changed boats before I did it.
I also drew up a design for a simple cam door latch to make sure the boat was held together well while underway or if rafted in bad weather.
I've seen a few doors on those boats, some nicely done, some that looked like hell and were weak. I also saw one with an access door made into the side of the cockpit.
Anything is possible.
I don't believe there is enough room for stairs without taking up half of the cockpit. You'd likely have to cut the flybridge deck off or make the hatch hole larger in order for someone to be able to walk up at a shallower angle.
As a Mainship 1 owner you already must have hit your head a couple dozen times on the edge of that hole!! I know I did and I never learned LOL.

(I think an elevator would be easier.)

 

[Comodave]

We were looking at a Hatteras 58 LRC. It had an angled ladder to the flybridge, problem was our dog wouldn’t be able to go up or down the ladder. I had a hoist designed in my head to lift him up and down but then my wife decided she didn’t like the boat, darn.

 

[mvweebles]

We own a 1979 mainship trawler. We love it and after 6 years have gotten almost all of the minor issues fixed. Now time to move on to our want's. Has anyone converted transom to a walk through?(added a door)? Also, flybridge ladder is getting more difficult for wife to use. Newer Mainships have molded in stairs. Any ideas? Thanks.

Amazingly, I don't have a decent picture. My 1970 W36 #40 was the last one built. One of the changes was to go from a pure SS rung ladder to a sloped ladder with decent treads. Don't get me wrong, still more ladder than stars, but a great improvement over previous models.

This picture was taken to show the engine out, but you can see on the stbd side the sloped area above the countertop. All total, there is probably 18 inches of runout on the stair/ladder. If you have room on other side of your bulkhead, it's an idea.

Second Pic is the stairs as they were refinished.

Good luck.

Peter

 

[Keysdisease]

Over on the Mainship Face Book page Buck Beasley did this to a 78 MSI, then took her to the Honduras where she operates as a commercial dive boat

 

[Blue Tortuga]

Early 2000s Albin 36 fast trawler (I was a dealer back then) had a stainless set of stairs system to the fly bridge that took up a lot of deck space but if you were not using the FB it lifted up slid forward against the aft deck bulkhead leaving room in the aft cockpit. Originally this was done because engines were under aft deck (v drives) and doing this allowed both hatches to open. Might be a workable solution to refit on another boat. I’m sure I could find some pics of someone wanted to see
It. Email me at Kent@LittleYachtSales.com.

 

[mvweebles]

Willard 36 sedans had a hull gate on starboard side of cockpit. New home for Weebles will be a slip I own in Florida, and I really need access on port side. As part of my restoration project in Mexico, I had a door fabricated. I don't have finished pictures yet but you get the idea from the attached (Pic is actually to show mockup of a built in freezer that will double as a chaise extension) . Tricky part is getting the angle-cut right to accommodate the thickness, which as you can see is considerable on my boat due to hull and liner distance. The picture of the Mainship shows less gap.

I have to say the open transom on the MS picture looks nice. I have to close my eyes a bit thinking about how much structural support is gone, but sounds like the boat is working well.

Peter

 

[ranger58sb]

We own a 1979 mainship trawler. We love it and after 6 years have gotten almost all of the minor issues fixed. Now time to move on to our want's. Has anyone converted transom to a walk through?(added a door)? Also, flybridge ladder is getting more difficult for wife to use. Newer Mainships have molded in stairs. Any ideas? Thanks.

Later versions of your model came from the (Silverton) factory with transom doors... so I'd think cutting one into yours wouldn't be rocket science. Maybe even review some of the Mk IIIs to see how/where they did it, maybe do it the same way in the same place.

If we still had ours, I think I'd consider a circular (steel) staircase of some sort. Or maybe a lazy L-shape. Can't get more exact without a boat in front of me to measure and consider... Lose a little cockpit (although with maybe space for "stuff" behind the supports) in favor of ease of access.

-Chris

 

[Keysdisease]

I have to say the open transom on the MS picture looks nice. I have to close my eyes a bit thinking about how much structural support is gone, but sounds like the boat is working well.
Peter

I thought the same thing re structural support. On the old yahoo site someone (may have been Jay) someone drew up a stainless steel U bracket to surround the door opening to provide structural support that would be missing from the door opening.

BUT, Buck opened the transom up in a BIG way, then drove the boat to the Honduras where she gets used a lot. Proof is in what's been done, and perhaps structural concerns are unfounded.

Your door looks like it going to be very nice Peter, a transom door is a must have on my list for the next boat, stairs to the bridge are also on that list

 

[boomerang]

Regarding the transom door, we would love to have a door for easier access to the cockpit from the swim platform, but honestly, while cruising, we keep a dingy and sometimes a paddleboard stowed between the transom and the dinghy so a door would be unusable most of the time. Plus I don't have the cojones to remove anything as structural as a piece of transom on our particular boat. Lots of boats, no problem, but in a substantial beam sea, there is a slight but noticeable "working" of the hull at the salon bulkhead. I've noticed it on a few other 34's I've been on too, so it might be normal. Probably additional tabbing at the bulkhead would strengthen the boat athwartships but I think I'll just leave the transom alone.
It seems to me that stairway would require elongating the flybridge companway access like the 2nd gen Mainships but I don't see where that would have too much of an effect on the boats structural integrity.
As you might have noticed, I'm a bit anal retentive when it comes to removing anything remotely structural on our boat, I suppose because we spent 2 seasons replacing all of the exterior horizontal flooring & decking to make it as strong as possible & I really hate to undo any of our efforts!

 

[skyhawk]

Don't know anything about the boat, so this is just 'thinking out loud'.... would one of those alternating tread ladders work?
gives more tread depth & kind-off simulates more slope in a way.. I personally find them a bit odd but they do make climbing and descending easier for some...

 

[Comodave]

I would not be concerned about structural integrity if I cut a door in the transom. I would just do the glasswork like I usually do and go way overkill on laying in glass and plywood until it was stronger than before I cut the door out. I don’t think that I would use any metal but just keep laying in glass and plywood until it was spread way out.

 

[Simi 60]

Ours has a washboard style drop in transom door.
Took it out over 4 years ago and stored it below, never been back in.

 

[Olebird]

Steep or high rise ladders and steps are a problem. I've fixed a few situations with something I call a "half step" - looks a little daunting at first but really works well to reduce steepness or foot print. Becareful to educate guest on board how to use them.

 

[Thud]

I suspect cutting the door centered on the transom will do the least structural damage as a first guess. Looking at the rear shape, the transom will have significantly more vertical dimension in the center of most any monohull. Thus cutting down to the cockpit sole where the total transom height is greatest will reduce its beam strength the least. I am sure there might be other considerations such as where the stringers attached to the transom or transom interior construction that could make the center not the optimal place, or access needs, but it seems like a good starting location. Anyway, in most trawlers there will be significant height of transom measured from the cockpit sole to the bottom of the transom at the gunnel, and even more left at the centerline.

 

[seadancer]

Ladder hack

I had shoulder replacement surgery last year and knew I wouldn't be able to climb the ladder to my flybridge. I couldn't have a permanent stair or ladder at a better angle, because I have a hatch under the deck behind the ladder. A friend was able to attach hooks to a longer lightweight aluminum ladder that hooks onto the current ladder's rungs but gives me a much better angle that I can easily go up with one hand, but is removable when I need to open the hatch.