Boat Sliding Door Hardware
Jared 00:08
Guys so in front of me here we've got uh a kind of a little model of a of a slider door that we do you know this is a smaller version of you know what you'd see in a lot of cases when you go down below deck on on a larger boat you've got kind of you know the slider door that gains access from the cockpit down into the berth yeah um you know we've got a couple different styles and over the years you know there's been you know different versions of tracks and truck used there's not a ton of documentation on that but today we want to specifically discuss the difference between a rollerball system which you see here with this door with some Glide blocks up top versus a standard system that uses either PVC or aluminum track with actual trucks there sure so you know when would you use one versus the other is there pros and cons between one or the other Matt walk us through that please
Matt 0:57
Yeah I I think the first thing you have to ask is or figure out is what thickness the door panel you have is and what it's going away right the application the installation and such you can see it's typically a bent door like what what you can see up here that they're all going to function in the same way but the components won't work the same they
weren't there you can't you can't use one versus the other or one in conjunction with the other so you know when you look at this I'm just going to slide this out real quick this has a lower carrier that has two roller balls in it they're separated by this little divider that keeps the balls from passing the midpoint of the door so the door when it's in here is always fully supported right it's not going to lean over to one side and bind right in addition to that you have Glide blocks on the top rather than trucks or rollers and that this is a much more load-bearing system right we use this we this system has been used on fiberglass doors that have molded steps into it it's been used on like heavier wood doors in some cases as well uh it does a good job there but TJ, tell us what some of the differences between that and the track and truck system is
TJ 2:18
Yeah, absolutely. so the main difference obviously that you can see here is that the door ends up actually riding on these little trucks and there's three different sizes a b and c with a b and the shortest C being the tallest and then what happens is the doors actually sit in what's called a train and that's actually what will attach to the trucks themselves and what goes along the the track itself which again Jared like you mentioned there's PVC there's aluminum couple different options there um one big question that we get is what trucks do I need you know that's I would say that's probably the number one question when it comes to people replacing their sliding door hardware and the uh the best answer is hey once you get it taken apart send us some pictures and dimensions of the trucks that you have and we can help match those up for you.
Matt 3:03
And as a general rule, the a trucks are used int he lower track and the B trucks are used in the upper track when it comes to track and truck system. The reason for that and there are differences this is an upper track here the lower track tends to have a raised lip on one side that's just to help keep water from getting into the track system um the difference is though these a trucks when they ride in the track they're the top of the truck is right in line with the top of the track where the B trucks when they're riding in the track they're a little bit taller than the track and the idea there is as the door is curved over the top and over the top of the track it won't contact the track as it's sliding back and forth where the a truck you have the train that's going to be sitting on top of it so it's just the whole purpose there is to minimize the gaps and minimize the airflow that's moving through there or water that's potentially trying to push through so it it just helps keep it a little bit more weather resistant right.
Jared 3:57
Yeah so you know one of the big things I think we need to kind of zoom out real quick and go over is that you know we're building a lot of these door track systems for the oems and so you know we're working with them to kind of decide and consult which is the best right you talked about the rollerball system for heavier doors that's going to be a heavier use application versus the tracks and truck system which you know for us if you you are going back to a customer and they're calling saying hey these trucks are out my roller balls are wore out you're giving them different advice you're kind of going hey this is what we used in these bill of materials send us some pictures dimensions and you're trying to go back in with the same thing that they came out with right um you know you mentioned here before
the conversation a little bit about you know sometimes we'll have you know people that are trying to build their own Pilot House Etc and want us to consult on what system to use and how to configure that you know Matt what's your
take on that is that something that that we really want to be able to do I know the OEM side they do but there's a lot more back and forth between the oems and a one-off customer for sure so
Matt 5:04
You know from a custom and installation standpoint there isn't a whole lot of a whole lot that we can do on that front you know we can provide the hardware that's necessary to do it and give you the information on what will work with it. You know theres no limit to the thickness of material that you can use with this door or this track system. Correct, with the rollerball system. With this you’re limited to a half ince material because the train only fits half inch material correct so it also I mean these are plastic trucks that we do have aluminum track in this version but this track is plastic as well typically that's not what fails and these It's usually the trucks the wheels go bad or something along those lines these just aren't going to be as load-bearing as the roller the Delaware and rollerballs that are inside here they they last a lot longer they're definitely stronger. Uh you know from a weight carrying capacity so when we’re talking about a new project of like a new door that someone’s trying to develop theres a few things taht come into question, right. How are you going to be installing it, is it going to be a a vertical door is it going to be a bent door because a lot of times when customers are trying to do it they're not trying to bend a door to fit an existing application they might be trying to hang a door by the just the trucks alone in the train I've seen that. Neither of these systems are designed to be you know a hanging door style. But with that said, they can be used in a vertical application.
It's just not something that we do so in the instance where I have used this system and and spoken with a customer who was doing a vertical door it was set up exactly like this without the bend so you still have the Glide box at the top that's where it retains it to the top track the top track is mounted sideways like this so that the Glide blocks move this way and that seemed to work for that application at least from the follow-up that I have with the customer they seemed pretty happy with it.
Jared 7:08
So if we’re looking to do a new project, we can provide the hardware and a little bit of insight which is you know not as the same as the oems where we're going back and forth to develop something together but overall a lot of stuff what you guys are dealing with is these systems are in the field they've been in the field for 30 years we're replacing you're going back in and helping them replace them so right awesome.