Carver Owners Forum

Has anyone found a way/lubricant that makes opening/closing the sliding door on a 355 any easier. While I appreciate its heft, my 1st mate and my guests constantly complain how hard it is to open/close.

There really is no good (inexpensive) solution as the door is on glides rather than rollers. I recently retrofitted a 1996 355 with a roller system for the entry door and the owner and his wife LOVE the new system. They thought about the cost for about 5 minutes and went ahead with it. I also did the same thing to a 396...works well on that boat too. Cost with labor and parts was roughly $1200. Both owners definitely think it was worth the cost!

Thanks Rasmsport47. That may the route I go to but for now I have other places to spend the $1200. *sigh*

A quick temp fix; clean the track really well then spray some Pledge on the tracks.

I have a 356 with a similar sliding door. I found a good solution for improving the sliding function. It's a high performance dry lubricant called McLube Sailkote sold at West Marine stores. It reduces drag and friction. I spray the bottom and top tracks every couple of weeks. It's made by Harken. There is a web address too: www.mclube.com

Thanks Reelpriority, I will give that a try.

Reelpriority wrote:I have a 356 with a similar sliding door. I found a good solution for improving the sliding function. It's a high performance dry lubricant called McLube Sailkote sold at West Marine stores. It reduces drag and friction. I spray the bottom and top tracks every couple of weeks. It's made by Harken. There is a web address too: http://www.mclube.com

Reelpriority, does that lube get on feet and get tracked into the cabin? I have tried to lube my 356 track but it ends up messy in the end.

Kenny, can you outline the fix and parts used to retrofit that door please? I would love to investigate that here in Vermont. Thanks in adVance.

Parts needed are a new upper and lower track with rollers in them and new glides that are mounted on the door itself. The bottom of the door had to be cut about 3/8" to accommodate the new tracks. I'll have to do research to find out who we got them from...a place in Canada. I'll research it and let you all know. This fix also works on the 396 entry door

Okay...I looked in our system at work. The company is Bomon in Canada...they originally made the door system for the 396, but have some replacement parts for other brands of door systems. If you end up calling there (and I can't find the number, but you should be able to find it online) Talk to Willem and let him know Ken from Sima Marine sent you. He's a great guy and very helpful!!!