The second phase in the companionway refurbishment project concerned the sliding hatch itself. The old varnish on the hatch was in pretty bad condition after several years of sun and salt.
First thing to do was to get the hatch removed. For that, I had to dismount the sprayhood and remove the fiberglass cover with the navigation instruments housing. As can be seen on the photograph, the sliding hatch was attached with a piece of steel cable to the back of the housing. I thoroughly cleaned the entire area of dirt and caulk and replaced the cable with a piece of strong rope and a pair of shackles in order to be able to easily remove the hatch afterwards without having to dismount the whole housing on top of it.
While the cover was removed, I had the bad luck that in that short lapse of time it started to rain a little bit and some water dripped in through the screw holes and found its way right onto my radio-mp3 player at the chart table! I was afraid the thing was lost for good as it didn't want to play any of my music anymore. Luckily, after unmounting, drying and mounting again, it miraclously revived.
Then for the refurbishment of the wood itself. Slowly, I removed all of the old varnish by means of a combination of a heat gun and a chemical paint stripper. After sanding, I managed to turn the entire hatch into clean fresh teak wood.
Next, using a small screwdriver I removed all the old, hardened black caulk separations between the planks of wood. When all the rests of caulk had been removed and the grooves were completely clean, I applied a special "Sika Primer 290DC" to them.
After the primer had dried I could then fill up the grooves with new black Sika 290DC caulk. I made sure to put on a generous amount of caulk, as once hardened it could easily be machine-sanded level with the wood. The result was perfect.
Left to do was to finish the hatch with 6 coats of marine varnish, just as I did with the frame and handles as explained in a previous post.