290 Tuna Door

[Panther190us]

Hello all. Currently shopping for a 290. I see some were made with tuna doors. My question is has anyone modified the tuna door to a full transom door so their wives and their wives dog can easily enter the boat?

[George290]

ive never seen or heard of  anyone doing it. 

[RickK]

I guess if you have enough transom below the door to keep the integrity and shape of the hull, I don't see why you couldn't cut a door in. The 290 didn't come standard with a swim platform (although probably and option) - is this idea to help them board from a dock? 

[B-Crete]

Any luck on cutting in the full transom door? I just got a TM and would like to do the same but I’m not sure if I should cut due to structural integrity.

[RickK]

I think since these are inboards, that the transom was probably not so robust. I would think that you would want to remove the existing coring, grind everything down and then beef it up with more coring than original, like 2"+ and definitely more glass before you cut a door out of the upper half of the transom. I think once the entire transom is really stout, then an access door would not diminish the strength of the entire structure. The part of the transom below the door is part of the entire laminated transom .... My $.02