On my 1980 Taiwan built C&L 44, the Port side sliding door stopped sliding several years ago.* I tried the UHMW breadboard trick, but the Starboard door, in its original configuration, still performed much more like it originally was intended.* Through a friend in the hardware business, I got new track and rollers, replaced the culprit rollers and discovered that the builders had used brass rollers on a brass track, but had ignored the presence of steel ball bearings in the rollers.* When those got their first dose of salt water, failure was inevitable.* The new track was aluminum, the new rollers, brass, on stainless bearings.* The design of the track and rollers was upgraded(?) to be similar to sliding patio door design.* Naturally, in the salt water environment, the corrosion of the aluminum track didn't take long to begin, and for the last couple of years I have had to scrape away the rough stuff and liberally spray the track with WD40 to keep the door rolling happily.
Last month I came across a fix for my patio doors at home.* It is a stainless track cover, that screws to the bottom of the extrusion in such a way that it provides a new running surface for the rollers and covers up that corroded and bumpy track that, in the case of the patio door, can't be removed.
Before installing it at home, I took one piece of this stuff and used it where the "new" aluminum track was providing a bumpy ride for my Port side door, and with the brass roller still looking fairly good, I now have original performance and some hope that it will last.* Cheap too, $20 for an 8 foot length, at Speedy Glass in Burnaby.
Last month I came across a fix for my patio doors at home.* It is a stainless track cover, that screws to the bottom of the extrusion in such a way that it provides a new running surface for the rollers and covers up that corroded and bumpy track that, in the case of the patio door, can't be removed.
Before installing it at home, I took one piece of this stuff and used it where the "new" aluminum track was providing a bumpy ride for my Port side door, and with the brass roller still looking fairly good, I now have original performance and some hope that it will last.* Cheap too, $20 for an 8 foot length, at Speedy Glass in Burnaby.
