Making a door in the steel trawler 

Nice job with the door fab and welding Stu. It’s good that you are making all of the improvements to the boat all now while on the hard. It beats having a wish list and never having the time to get it done when the boat is in use.

I am so addicted to these videos! I think all of your viewers feel like we have a vested interest in the final product. Great video and can’t wait to see what the hull looks like after it is sandblasted.

Great video Stu, remember to shorten one of those hinge pins before welding. It'll make door hanging so much easier!

Just a quick note to let you know I am really enjoying the restoration videos of this boat

So, I'm watching this series for the first time and one thing I think you really need more of is your dog in the videos LOL.

Best working on boats channel on RU-vid today.

Clean cuts. Removing the paint from both sides before cutting with the acetylene torch makes the cut much cleaner. I usually used the needle gun first, then used the torch to burn off the remaining paint. Hitting the oxygen lever makes the paint burn off quickly. Finally a line scribed (scratched into the steel) that I could follow gave the best results. Thanks for the videos!

I’ll never have a steel trawler but watching you work and make decisions about every little thing and thinking about them is enjoyable and encouraging.

Living the dream mate. Dust heat and hard work you can't beat it. Great job Pat yourself on the back. Glued to your effort and progress👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

Looking good. Consider the mechanism for keeping the door in the open position. If you need to keep it open on open water (man overboard, etc), you need to keep that heavy door from knocking you off the boat. Also consider the clearance at the bottom of the door, make sure it's perfect for wedging your foot to the floor (or not). Smooth sailing.

Home engineering - it's great, even the dog had a thought on which way the door should swing. As they say in the classics " I'm lovin' every minute of it "

Thanks for the video, I enjoy watching how you work through solving problems, without just throwing money at it. A real credit to you, I know very little about boats but am learning

You are doing great. It is nice to have a friend to talk things over with while you plan out your modifications. It is looking so sweet. I can't wait!

Ditch the oxy torch and use the plasma cutter on a straight edge. You can even make your own straight edges to follow a contoured shape. Cuts better, reduces heat warpage and gets rid of a whole load of grinding. Love watching the progress and there’s something hypnotic about the needle gun time lapse.

A project to be proud of. Good to see it coming on. Memories in the making.

Enjoying the video production enhancements, Stu. The longer format works well too, Cheerio.

Love the drone footage of the boat from vertical as well as the boatyard and Dangar Island. I love how nicely this boat is coming along. You are an excellent boat mechanic.

You're doing a great job, just a couple of little tips. When cutting vertical with a grinder, hold it 90 degrees to your right. The sparks will go past you, not on to you. You will be more protected by the guard if the wheel decides to disintegrate, and if the grinder "kicks back" it will be in to air, not your face... Also keep all flammable materials away, thinners, petrol ext. Second thing , the oxy will cut through paint no worries, you do not need to grind the paint off before, it's enough heat to burn steel, it will burn paint.

Stu, Another trick is to put a thin copper sheet under that rust patch & weld over it, the weld won't stick to the copper. Use copper pipe to rebuild & re-weld flogged out round holes.

As you mentioned at one point, the goal is to achieve a result as good as the Green Machine. A lofty goal, but sometimes it's best to reach for the stars.

Great series. My wife and I are restoring a 100 year old 62x10 Dutch Barge for my father. Using twin Lynch electric motors to power it. It’s a massive project at the minute we are full time on it making good progress!

The Aussie Allrounder! Boats a nice Shape from above. Beauty DM, Great Episode.

"Don't make things square, make 'em dance to the music" - lesson for Life there!

She is going to be a famous boat when she is sat in the water again. Many of us will look at her affectionately, knowing what's gone into her. Again and as always, bravo 👏👏👏

Nice pass through! Hinging on the bow side does make more sense it’s coming along nicely fairly soon you can set sail and enjoy your new home away from home ! SKOL BUD !

one suggestion, When cutting hold the torch at about a 30 degree angle into the work. It will cut easier. Don't be afraid to give it plenty of gas and O2 running roughly 5-8 lbs on the gas side and what works well on the O2 side. Did you think of 2 smaller doors turning in? It would have fixed the spacing issues so the doors would have taken up less space. I wish we were closer, I'd love to come and help, I'm retired but I still love to build stuff! Thanks from Virginia USA

Hello Buddy, If I may ; Say, it looks like that new door is bowed, just a reminder to keep those hinges in line, which will make them look crooked on the door , but work well and go on and off easier. cool job!

Great job mate n your consideration about dust n noise for other people is Brilliant what many people lack now days waiting for the next video

Nice work mate, addicted to the progress!!

Nice work Stu. Those hinges are great to work with and you can put them one one of two ways. One is so the door is captured and can't be removed (other than cutting one hinge off) and the other would be so you could take the door off in case the need arises. All you have to do make sure the door doesn't fall off is have a small piece of rod welded welded above the hinge piece on the door so it can't lift up or a bolt going thru a nut that's welded to the frame so you can back the bolt out and allow the door to rise up. I'd go with a drop bar or a barrel bolt, both simple and strong. great video as always.........Mike

I just love this project. Great to see you do your stuff and not afraid to show things that did not go so well in the first go too. Just a very honest and open video. keep it up.

I really enjoy watching your videos while having my early Sunday morning coffee. Nevermind the negative comments, somebody somewhere is benefitting from this documented rebuild.

Nice one stu, she is starting to come back together, not be long before she is back in the water

I look forward to these vids every week.

The aerial view was great, it’s a lovely part of the world that you hide out in..

here you are ! oopf . I was busy working and did not want to miss any of your jobs, you little blessing. Lord bless you! it is awesome

This is when making a test door out of scrap wood helps. Easy to chop and modify and then transfer design to steel once you happy with it. Much easier to test fit a light weight wood door than a lump of steel. If you get it wrong then just chuck it back in the waste pile and make another until you happy with it. A pair of split doors has a lot of advantages. More work to make but easier to move around when open. Could open outwards and lock back against existing structure. Doors completely out of the way.

The time lapse needle gunning vision is oddly satisfying.

I am enjoying this boat build. I luv the Hawkesbury having been a long term resident going back 50 years at MYOBB

Really liked the drone footage!

Great progress Stu. I know you agonised about the door top rail, and any imperfection. Epoxy filler, sand and paint.

a smaller piece of pipe that went inside the top rail, cut a slot and you have a massive pad bolt to lock the gate. Also if you intentionally mount the hinges out of whack , your gate will pivot and tilt up as it goes through 90 degrees. do the angles right and the bottom of the gate would clear the deck . My first thought of the side sheet supports not being vertical is that they may have been set up to be vertical when the boat is in the water as most boats sit a bit stern down.

If you use a long hinge made from small pipe welded vertically and then drop a long rod with a top handle for pulling it up using a hinge on either side you can fully remove and swing it either direction. The length would give it strength and plastic bushings would allow it to slide in and out with ease. Cheap, strong and easy. Stainless material would keep corrosion away if you chose. Grease zerts would also make it swing easy. Boats are always a learning curve. As the old saying goes, Never met a shipwright with a square. Take care. Doug

I sorta feel like flying to Australia and helping you with this thing for a week or so.. It would be a considered a Vacation for me..🤣😁

Awesome progress Stu. Great editing job too. Loved the drone footage. It's a nice way of showing your overseas viewers the paradise you live in. The boat has come a long way in such a short time. Now take the weekend off and go for a ride!

Grinding/Cutting safety glasses a MUST. I've had metal in my eye Stu and its NOT fun!!!

Had me going for a while until you figured out how to mark up the door. Looking forward to the next vid.

Beautiful area!

Dangar Stu - fuelled by improv and beer. Luv it.

If you hinge the aft end of the door to open inwards, stand the hinges off by a couple of inches then the whole will swing back parallel to the remaining bulwark. A spring loaded bolt with a striker plate forward and another aft for when stowed and jobs a good un. Acess both for and aft is then maximised and your door is always secured out of harms way. Great work, great vids keep em coming.

This guy is living the life.

You've inspired me to get on and get stuff done on the camper - sure, no relation to your boat, but a project of mine and you're doing things in parallel on your project while I'm taking breaks and doing one thing at a time...no wonder its been going on for 6 months now....

I have owned a few boat in my day boats are like house's and farms there's all ways some thing need to be dun to them i just in joy watching these shows and can't wait for the next one i would love to have you as my neighbor Stu

I think the real descion is xxxx gold, coppers red or 150 lashes. Enjoying the build videos look forward to the next.

Just an observation. I don't know how far away that white center console is but I am thinking it should be covered. As you grind and cut you are sending little bits of metal into the air and the wind is whisking them away. I would be willing to bet that if you climbed into that little white boat it will be covered with little speckled rusty spots. As those shavings rust they stick to the gelcoat of other boats. I've seen this many times in boat yards and it can be costly to clean up and fix. I don't mean to nit pick, I love your videos, this has been a fun adventure. ~ Mike, Coast of Maine.

Nice Door mate!

we used a bar stock as a gate pin lock. Slides in and out of the railing tube, with a little slot for a handle on the bar.

Looks unreal mate. I'm on pittwater if you ever want to grab a beer.

If you put a rod/slide bolt INSIDE the top rail. You can cut a key slot on the forward rail side before the door and the bolt will go into the door rail and can be locked down.

You could make an unequal hinge, longer arm at the bottom with the pivot point centre slightly offset out from the top, allows the door outer edge to rise at a rate to clear the deck. They do it with gates on sloping ground. The door will want to swing down under its own weight but you'd have a standing latch anyway on a boat. Just my two cents worth....... keep on keeping on, good stuff.

Loved the drone footage 👍 keep up the good work

Stu, I can't help but say it again: another great episode. Love the longer format too, more please...

Hey Stu! Making good progress. It's nice to have someone there with another perspective. I really need to get one of those needle grinders. Have a goodie.

Hi Stu just an idea regarding your door the piece of tube you cut out of the door if you had got a section of solid bar that fitted inside you could have made a slide bolt by tabbing it with a bit of plate so it slid between the door and the adjoining panel. Then just welded a locking plate on the door to prevent it sliding open while under way. Great video really enjoying this series on the steel boat.

You can use the round tube on the top as a latch . Get some tube that fits inside . Cut a slot in the door and make a slide bolt in it . Easy done and big and strong .

Hey Stu...excellent and engrossing video again.....Loved the discussion of Design.....the "back and forth"....the discussion of user experience....soo important on boats....you have taught me so much about working in steel.....(woodwork guy).......when Eddie stuck his head out of the wheel house I laughed my a** off!.......can't wait to see your next one mate....good work......good luck with the haircuts!

Drill and chamfer a couple of pairs of holes near the hinges for a belay to retain the door in case of a Greenie!

Looks great, so handy and safer to access. Be careful on the set up with hinges etc regards pinch points, you might notice the relief angles typically required on transom doors due to the thickness and hinge placement. Personally I'd make a staino track for a composite/glass drop board to go into... but that's me;) Doing a great job on a very neat style of boat, awesome to watch!

Being able to TIG weld makes you a boss... 👏

Like the aerial shots

I like the way you charge every task , keep up your hard work

Use a large piece of cardboard to make a template for the door. I’d hinge both sides with a removable straight rod so you can open it from either side and remove the whole door as well.

Cut the door in half, hinge both sides and have two small doors which can fold right back flush.

Good work stu

Nice job mate...all coming along well, Love the drone footage too. Very cool. Once again we witnessed the great man DP adding his invaluable advice and design tips, not unlike the time he assisted in re-configuring the Green Machine during it's 2016 face-lift. Keep going mate, you are flying now ! Bring on the sand blasting :)

We lost TWO steel doors like this before we secured the current one on the 46 m ex navy vessel I volunteer on :-) The change is not so remote. A place were it can rest securely is welcome too when you take it out.

6:10, love the aerial shots. What a beautiful part of the world to go boating in!

another good one,thanks

Congrats, you've become my first Patreon sponsored creator! Keep up the great videos :)

Hi Stu, I like you keeping the video themed, helps understand the thinking of a project as it how you decide to do something is Hardest part but also the most interesting. To stop the hinge lifting un-intended I'm sure you will come up with a couple of plates to that will only allow lift when the door is say wide open. I think I might have made a narrower door but you may be moving some big stuff. Cheers Warren

Hello from Detroit Stu. Always remember... a grinder and paint makes us the welders we ain't. A lot of people are suggesting a barrel bolt in the top rail,seems like a good/easy solution. I was thinking of a cam and lever with rods as dogs on the edges and bottom of your NWTD. Thanks for posting.

Loving your videos.

What you should have done to make it to where it doesn’t cave in from a wave is use 2 thick metal pipes and make loops for the pipes and put 1 on top and the other on the bottom and put a piece of flat metal on each loop on the outside of the loop so the pipe doesn’t slide out of place and make it to where 1 of the flat pieces of metal on both top and bottom to let the flat metal piece move up and down and then put a hole in those flat pieces that move big enough for a regular lock for both bottom and top and then if doing this you should put like 6 very strong hinges on the bottom of the door so it opens downward and then put a homemade collapsible ladder on the door so when you open it you can just climb down from the boat to get on the dock

Worked well for me probably because I change priorities on the job as necessary worked around welders & ship fitters building 1200t tuna seiners for 3 years Thanx from the left coast near the Krapitol of California

really enjoying ... love the progress>>>>>>>>>>>>

The drone footage is stupendous.

I may have missed your ideas for a latch for the door, so I appologise if I did. However. Seems to me the best idea for a latch would be a sliding bolt through the round tube on the top of the door into the round tube rail on the top of the wall.

Steady as she goes Stu .Would have loved to see that door mounted this vid , but not complaining and i think in the end you are swinging it the right way . keep up the good work , can't wait for the next one . PS enjoyed that drone footage and the sense of country around you .

Love watching this door job

look at the 3 way hinge on the back of a dump truck, make 4 of the intermediate hinge, 2 on each side, they act as a latch and can also easily swing from either side depending on which side you unlatch

I can't help thinking you used the oxy cutter because its a new 'toy' That large cutter blade would have gone down as far as you need and also left a neater cut line, even more so if you pressed it up against the bulwark supports, they would have acted as a guide for the blade.

Really enjoyed the drone footage, the needle gun footage, and the rest too, of course. Nice progress! Like others, I wondered why you didn't keep going with the angle grinder cut, but it turned out just fine.

Great job, you will have a fine boat when you're done!

Love the drone footage - not hard to see why you enjoy boating!

It just amazes me on the task you take on... then conquer.. as I’ve said before thank you for taking us on the journey with you 👍👍👍👍

Well done. That's all I've got for this one.

I personally would have a lift on and off panel / door with drop brackets. You only use the door when in port or climbing into a tender boat, a top tip go to a recycling centre or find many old speakers and collect magnets. Ideal welding accessories and a third hand for welding

Oh you got a drone, awesome views. One of these days may get one but not sure if it will work for fishing? May scare the fish away

You might consider a stiffener of some sort a long the bottom edge of the door. Either a small angle or another tube. This will also give it a more finished appearance as well being safer than the edge of the plate.

Just weld a piece of flat bar on the outside of hall to stop the door, with a simple slide latch into wall brace