Please print these instructions out for easy reference while you measure your screens.
Directions for Tracing Your Companionway Boards
Tracing your companionway dropboards is probably the easiest and best way to provide us with the dimensions of your vertical companionway opening. From this tracing we can measure the height, width at top and bottom, determine the taper angle, and also reproduce any top or bottom curves. What this tracing does not show however, is the width of the track or channel into which the boards fit. This can only be done by carefully measuring the thickness of your dropboards and the width of the channel.
Following the instructions below will help you to provide us with all the information we need to custom-build your companionway screen; a screen that is not only beautiful but one that fits properly.
-1) Smooth creases and place paper on a flat surface.
2) Place companionway boards on paper with outside edges aligned properly and with each board snug against each other. (You may wish to tape them together to prevent movement while tracing)
3) Trace the complete outline with a sharp pencil or pen. Try to avoid retracing as much as possible. A single thin but distinct line is best.
4) Remove boards and label the top and bottom of the tracing and write on the paper which way the boards were facing. Please use the words INTERIOR and EXTERIOR to indicate sides e.g., Interior side facing up" or "Exterior side facing up."
5) FOR THOSE WITH COMPANIONWAYS THAT LEAN FORWARD ONLY The top edge of your top board and the bottom edge of your bottom will probably be beveled to match the angle of the forward lean. After tracing please indicate whether it was the top edge or the bottom edge that lay flat against the paper. (The other edge will have been up in the air and you will have had to lean your pen or pencil in a bit to trace the edge against the paper.) Now stand the bottom board on either ouside edge and trace the bottom edge bevel on the paper and label it "Bottom edge bevel". Stand the top board on an outside edge and trace it on the paper and label it "Top edge bevel"
6) Measure the thickness of the boards and the width of the channel. Write these dimensions on the paper and label them.
7) Put dropboards back in the companionway and close the top companionway slide. Look closely at the fit between the top board and the slide. If there is a gap please make a note of this on the papers such as "Add 1/16" or 1/8" to overall height" or whatever corrections you feel are necessary, if any. Please feel free to write any comments or instructions on the paper that will help us to make the fit as close as possible.