How To Figure Out Your Replacement Boat Door Size

Boat Door Calculator #1 -- If you need to match a new door to an existing cutout, click here.

Boat Door Calculator #2 -- If you don't have a cutout, but know what size door you want, click here.

How big is your cut-out? If you're replacing an old door, just take it off and measure the hole that's left. If you're installing a door where no door existed before, you need to figure out how big a cut-out you need (or have room for).

Once you know that cut-out dimension (24" x 16" in this example), it's easy to figure out your total door size, including the frame.

Most of the doors we sell have frames that are 2" wide -- but if you're pinched for space, we also make doors with frames 1-1/2" wide. For now, let's say you want your door to have a 2" frame.

Your cut-out size plus the frame width equals your door size. In this case, add 2" to your cut-out dimensions -- so your 24" x 16" cut-out requires a 26" x 18" door. And (what a happy coincidence), we just happen to have a standard door exactly that size.

Our 26" x 18" door will overlap your 24" x 16" cut-out by 1" on all sides.

When you center your door over the cut-out, about half of the width of the frame should cover the surrounding area -- and the other half should extend inside the cut-out opening.

You have a little wiggle-room here: Your cut-out can come almost to the inside edge of the frame and still look and function just fine. But remember, if the cut-out is too wide or too tall, you won't have enough room to put fasteners into your frame.

If the door you need will be square or rectangular, and if it will have just one door panel, we consider that simply to be a standard, basic door -- and it won't cost you anything extra in the way of design fees or set-up charges.

But if your dream door has multiple panels or even if it's only going to have just one panel in some kind of weird trapezoidal sort of frame along the lines of the doors shown below, then you really are looking at a "custom" requirement. And you will incur some additional design and set-up costs as a result. If you'll provide some detailed specs for us, we'll be happy to work up a firm price estimate for you. Either give me a call at 305-743-4090 (Mon - Fri, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Eastern time); or shoot me an email with details of what you need and I'll get back to you.

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Buck Woodcraft Boat Doors - Frequently Asked Questions

I'm replacing an old door, so I already have a cutout. I realize my new door will be bigger than the cutout -- but how much bigger?

Your new boat door's outside dimensions will equal your cutout size plus the door frame's width. So as an example, if your cutout measures 15"W x 20"L and you decide on a 2"-wide frame, the completed door will measure 17"W x 22"L overall. If you go with a 1.5" frame, you'll end up with outside dimensions that are a bit less: 16.5"W x 21.5"L.

Will my new door's access opening be the same size as my cutout?

No, it'll be smaller. If you choose a 2"wide frame for your new door, your access opening will be 2" narrower and 2" shorter than your cutout. For example, if your cutout measures 15"W x 20"L, your door's access opening will measure 13"W x 18"L. If instead you go with a 1.5" wide frame, the access opening will be 13.5"W x 18.5"L.

Making the access opening smaller than the cutout gives your installed door a neater appearance -- and pretty much eliminates any contact with the typical cutout's rough-sawn fiberglass or plywood edges.

I need for my new door to have an access opening of a particular size. So how do I figure out how big the cutout needs to be -- and what the door's outside dimensions must be -- to make that happen?

Okay, another example: If you need an access opening that measures 10"W x 10"L, add your frame size to those dimensions to get your cutout size. If your new door gets a 2"-wide frame, your cutout size will need to be 12" x 12". To get the total outside dimensions of your new door, add twice the frame width to the access opening you need -- so a 10" x 10" access opening for a door that has a 2"-wide frame will end up with outside dimensions of 14" x 14".

How far will my new King Starboard boat door stick out from the surface I mount it on?

It'll protrude 3/4" inch from the surrounding console or bulkhead area, which is the thickness of the door's frame. The door panel itself is inset into the frame, so the frame and door panel are flush with each other. For added strength and stability door panel rests against an inner lip of the frame that's 1/4" thick and 3/8" wide.

Will my new boat door be waterproof?

No. However -- because the door panel is inset into its frame against an inner lip that's milled out to a fairly close tolerance -- your door offers some resistance to the kind of incidental splashing that might result when you're washing down your boat after a day's fishing or whatnot.

If I order vent slots, will they be angled down so water can't splash straight through them?

No. We cut the vent slots straight through the door. The most important reason for this is safety. An angled vent slot in a Starboard door would present a sharp, knife-like edge that could easily draw blood -- and we don't have a way to put a uniform, smooth radius onto that edge. While it's true that water can get through these openings, our slotted doors are typically either installed in something like a hanging locker down inside the boat -- and (we hope) there's not much risk of taking in water there. Or they're used as access doors for anchor lockers, which themselves are usually wet anyhow (and also have built-in drains).

Where do you position vent slots on boat doors anyway?

We'll place them toward the upper part of whatever door you order. If you're going to install your door so that the long dimension is vertical, we need that information -- and we need to know whether your door will open from right-to-left or left-to-right. If your long dimension will be installed horizontally, we need that information as well.

I might want to change my boat door's color sometime in the future. What kind of paint works best on Starboard?

Sorry, none at all. No sort of paint we know of will adhere to King Starboard. But so long as you choose a Starboard color you like to begin with, you can count on it holding up without fading pretty much for the life of your boat.

Can I just glue my new door into place with epoxy or something, instead of attaching it with screws and such?

Nope. In much the same way that paint won't stick to King Starboard over the long haul, neither does anything else that we've tried -- including 3M-5200, silicone, nor various flavors of "boat caulk." The King Starboard company does sell a product called "StarBond" -- but it's expensive, requires an expensive "applicator" and in the end, the product's instructions caution that the "join" should be supplemented with mechanical fasteners. So really, we recommend you save your self some money and aggravation and disappointment, and, uh, stick with screws or other fasteners of your choice.

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Buck Woodcraft

120 49th Street, Marathon, Fl. 33050

Phone: 305-743-4090

Fax: 305-743-2951

E-Mail: john@buckwoodcraft.com

Buck Woodcraft, Inc. 120 49th Street, Marathon, Fl. 33050

Phone: 305-743-4090 -- Fax: 305-743-2951 -- E-Mail: john@buckwoodcraft.com