A New Companionway Door

When I bought my 30-year old West Wight Potter, Blue Knot, it needed a few repairs and replacement parts.

- Jerry Culik

The original wood hatch appeared to be long gone, replaced by a delaminating piece of unfinished plywood with cheap, rusting hinges. The companionway threshold above the bridge deck, after years of use, was cracked and broken. Even the cabin sides around the companionway and sliding hatch cover were beginning to show the effects of age. The companionway hatch and door would clearly need some serious reworking before I could take the boat very far.

As a new owner of a classic trailer sailer, I consulted the internet to see what other Potter owners had done to replace or upgrade their hatches, and I found lots of useful information. There’s an active Potter group sailing on and around San Francisco Bay, and one thing was clear: it’s advised to sail with the hatch closed—just in case. Here on the Chesapeake Bay, where it’s hot and more humid—and we get a lot of light air days—it might not be as critical. But closing up the cabin when things get breezy is still a good idea on a small boat. At the very least, there might be less water to bail out.

The original Potter 15 hatch design is a little unusual. Instead of interlocking wash boards, the Potter’s two-part companionway door is hinged, with the narrower lower panel captured on its sides with teak cleats, and a larger upper panel that swings up and down. The lock clasp on the sliding hatch top keeps the top panel up to close offthe cabin. The hinge is necessary because the cabin walls and companionway face are angled forward about six inches above the bridge deck, as shown in the photo.