Replacing Plastic Sliders

[mregan]

I want to replace the black plastic sliding doors over the galley and nav table.  Mine are scratched.  I can't figure out how to get them out.  On my old C-30 you could lift them up, the bottom would pop out of the groove and they could be taken out.  The ones on my C-34 won't do that.  Any idea on how to replace them?

[Ken Juul]

The same way.  Sometimes you need to lift the top shelf up the get the clearance needed pull the sliders out.

[Ron Hill]

mre : I have the same problem with my 1988 as the same sliders will not lift up an out.  The ones behind the setee will lift up an out!

I covered mine (in place) with some ash battening using contact cement.  I

If you want to remove those sliders you're going to have to remove the plugs over the screws and remove the bottom piece of teak. 

[chuck53]

mre : I have the same problem with my 1988 as the same sliders will not lift up an out. 

If you want to remove those sliders you're going to have to remove the plugs over the screws and remove the bottom piece of teak. 

Dumb question...instead of going to all that trouble removing the teak...how about just breaking the slider and making the replacement just slightly smaller - small enough to slide in place like they should have been all along.

[mregan]

Chuck
I was thinking of that but before I did I wanted to make sure I wasn't missing some other way of getting them out.

[chuck53]

Chuck
I was thinking of that but before I did I wanted to make sure I wasn't missing some other way of getting them out.

before you do it, let's get some more feedback.  I'm just asking if that is a reasonable approach.  I just find it hard to believe that Catalina would make it so difficult when others (my old C-30) were made to lift up and remove easily.

[n624ma]

You probably need to push the upper shelf back up to it's original location, both sides on our boat had sagged.

I cut a 2" wide piece of 1/2 ply to "Floor to ceiling" dimension at the end of the slider and after positioning it at the mid point fore and aft, the plastic lifts right out like you expect. I left them there and the sliders now slide smoothly.

When the new ones were made I went with finger holes instead of the handles to prevent the breakage problem associated with the handles stressing the plastic.

[Clay Greene]

We had the same problem with the doors over the chart table. We used the tool we use to tension the v-belt to push the top shelf up enough to get the old ones out. We replaced with teak plywood that now matches the surrounding wood perfectly. Did the same for all the other doors and it looks great.

[Steve W10]

When I did my deck repair and bulkhead replacement I found the easiest way to remove the sliders was to remove the two horizontal screws holding the shelf support on either side and tap the shelf upward.  You can leave the vertical screws in place.  (I suppose you could do the vertical ones instead, just the horizontal ones are easy to get at with a regular sized screw driver)

The shelf only needs to move up a little bit and then you can move the sliders to that side and easily pull them up and out.

The attached image is after I removed all the supports for the shelf and tilted it outboard 90 degrees.  The circles are where the horizontal screws were.  No plugs in those holes, at least on my boat.

Hope it helps.

Steve

[Ken Juul]

My solution to sagging upper shelf.  I pulled my sliders today to work on the new holding tank vent.  Even with the support, I had to lift up the center part of the upper shelf to get the slider out.

[Ron Hill]

Guys : Yes, the shelves above the long sliders behind the back cushions, tend to get overloaded and do sag.

mre's question was about the sliders over the fridge and nav table where there is no shelf above!!  On the early MkIs the sliders above the nav table were the smoky acrylic and the sliders above the fridge/stove were white Formica.

These sliders were installed at the factory the way they are and on my 1988 could not be lifted out. To remove/replace them I either had to remove the teak, break them out & replace or cover them in place!!
I covered the nav table sliders with ash battening and left the ones above the stove/fridge as they were.  A few thoughts

[Steve W10]

Dohhhh!

Good pick up Ron, I agree - break 'em an replace with slightly smaller ones that will fit in.

S

[TonyP]

Ours are not plastic but white melamine faced ply. The black see through plastic are above the dinette and settee.

[patrice]

Hi,

Just removed all of the slidders doors on my boat.
The way I did, is place the door in the middle of the slide openning, and pull up the top shelf, there is a lot of play.
You'll be able to remove them with no problem, yes the shelf sag over time.

[SailingJerry]

Any tips on where to find the black plastic for the sliders? In the NY/NJ metro area every place I went to said it is a special order and they had to get a huge piece of it. I only need to replace one slider.
Jerry