Velera wrote:
Not sure what that we are all talking about the same thing. My T37 companionway boards are 5/8" thick solid teak boards with metal edges that fit into the grooves. I cannot imagine this not holding anything back that could possibly get in the cockpit. I have a sliding lock that can be put in place to keep them from being dislodged, but that is original as well, I think. I have seen some modifications of these doors by owners that give me the willies--especially the hinged doors that make the companionway look like and oversized cuckoo clock--this has to weaken and make the whole thing montrously inefficient if sort of salty-looking to non sailors. Tartans are getting to the age where many modifications have been done on most of them, but I think mine are original and I have sailed more than 25K miles on both coasts, Nova Scotia and Central America and never had a thought about a weakness there. I realize there is some armchair sailor books that talk about the need for some kind of a wall to keep a flooded cockpit from draining into your salon if you happen to get pooped (I have been in more than one force 8 gale in my T37 with no indication this was going to happen). I once had the late Olin Stephens on my boat and asked him about this design "flaw". He told me that he and the designers had talked about this. He asked me, "If you were pooped in a following sea, where would you want the water to be? Would you want it to be up here (in the cockpit) slowly draining out the 2" scupper drains while you wallowed, top heavy, in the rolling sea or would you want it to immediately get lower in the boat to stabilize it?" Yup--I get what he was thinking by leaving it out. My experience is that I would not want to carry a hot tub full of cold sea water high in the boat's cockpit. In my CG education, we were instructed in dynamic instability as I recall, and this seems like it could be a huge problem if the cockpit is full of water and does not empty pronto. It is nice to read all the old salts' cruising books, but after many years of being out there, I think that the authors (this one included) read too many of each others' books and develop ideas about what is "right" that just does not live up to the realities of being out there. Don't believe what I say either. Think about it for yourself.
Ray Durkee
T37 #373
Velera
Thanks for sharing the insight from your experience and from Stephens visit! Wow! Any chance you have a pic of how the original boards look?