Removable Access Door Options: Pros & Cons

Removable Access Door Options: Pros & Cons

Jared 00:08
Removable doors. So we sell a lot of different styles of custom doors here for us, you know or build your own starboard door etc. I think that they're broken down into a couple different styles right, the removable and non-removable doors. So when we've got one example of a removable door here, lift out door with toe kick, etc. We're going to break down some of the pros and cons and Matt, I'm going to throw to you first to kind of go through why somebody would want something like this versus another style the door for us.

Matt 00:39
Yeah, so we have three different of removable doors, right, this is our standard lift out door has a little U shape, retainer down here, the top half of the door hinges down, you slide the bottom half out and you've got full access to whatever you're working on in there so that you're not leaning on the door, potentially breaking it damaging the hinge, damaging the frame, whatever it may be.

The other two styles are one of them is very similar to this. It is a lift out style with a hinge across the midsection, but it has a toe-kick. It's intended for that, say for example, your console doesn't come all the way down to the deck the cutout or the, I'm sorry, the cutout does come all the way down to the deck. So there isn't anything to attach a frame to down there. And you still want to close out the area. It does a really good job of that and still gives you all the access whenever you remove the door out but if you need quick, you get quick access. The other style is a single panel removable door where it has hooks on the back of the door that grab the frame. TJ you've used those before.

TJ Corcoran 01:36
Yeah, I had one on my old skiff and it worked great. Definitely there are some advantages have been like the one with the toe kick because you eliminate that bottom side of the frame. It gives you know, easier access inside the console. But it worked great. It was very easy to remove and didn't get in the way when I had to get inside and work in the console and very easy to put back in when I was finished.

Jared 01:57
So a lot of cases we're talking about consoles, you know, these doors are used, of course, for a console to be able to gain access there. You know, in some cases, this doors hinged halfway down. You think of a larger door is not going to be able to hinge out because it could potentially have leaning post.

Matt 02:13
Right so some of the reasons you might look at using a lift out door like this is exactly like what you described. Maybe you have maybe on an 18 foot Skiff. I can think Hughes, Maverick, a lot of those guys who've used removable doors on the back of their console for gaining access because you don't have a big area for a door to hinge and swing out of the way might hit the rear casting platform or bench seat or whatever may be there. It could be a leaning post. It could be I just don't want a hinged door because when I'm working in there, it's going to annoy the heck out of me. Right. And so you want to get it out of the way

Jared 02:48
Like bilge acces, etc. We've done one of those lift-outs, the one with the chocks.

Matt 02:54
A single panel removable door and that's really nice, from the sense of simplicity, and convenient in areas where you don't have to regularly get in there. Right. If all you're doing is you're taking them or allowed to turn the battery switch on and you're putting it back there and you're not going in there the rest of the day. That's pretty easy, right and it gives you good access to work in the space. And you don't necessarily need a hinge across the midsection or a door that you can't really put a seal on, because these doors slide in and out. And typically they're not built with a seal right where a single panel door with the hooks on the back can be built with the seal to be a little less noisy, and a little less prone to rattle inside.

Jared 03:35
So that's a good point. I feel like everything that I've talked about up to this point has been pros, right? Let's go to the cons right? Yeah, this door doesn’t have a seal? Which means that it's going to rattle right. Not as good as having a seal. So what else you got the water resistance that would be there. What is another con of having a removable versus a hinged door that's permanently fixed to the frame?

Matt 03:55
You got to find something to do with the door panel when it's out right what I'm doing, if you're going to have it out for extended period of time, am I going to put it on the hatch, if God forbid you're working on wiring on the console when you are out fishing because something's gone wrong. Okay, maybe you're not super concerned. You're just chucking that thing across the deck. But one way or the other you still have to figure out something to do when you're getting in there.

Jared 04:18
Yep. So pros gives you access. Cons you can remove the door plus it doesn't give us the option. Some of these cases you talked about the removable door having sealed but a lot of like the lift out door here, lift out door toe kick can have seal. Right any other cons you bring up or you think that's…

Matt 04:37
You know, outside of that No, I mean these doors are really functional. They serve a really good purpose. One of the benefits of a single paneled door I can think of versus something like this. This door is going to swing all the way down. A single paneled door, it has to come out you know, a couple of inches before you can take the whole thing out if you really have a tight access that it's convenient to be able to get that out of it without having to move it very far.

Jared 05:00
Awesome