Roche Harbor is a historic seaside resort located on San Juan Island, Wash. Steeped in rich history and surrounded by lush gardens, the village is a short drive from nearby Friday Harbor. Both locations have tourist lodging options, luxurious modern homes,
fishing and whale watching chargers, historic hotels and quaint residential cottages.
A new 64-foot by 64-foot private-use residential hangar, recently built by Peter C. Schmidt Construction and owned by Merri Ann Simonson, is located near Roche Harbor Airport. The hangar has a 60-foot wide, 18-foot tall bifold liftstrap door from Schweiss Doors. It has an automatic arm latch system.
Jason Schmidt, Construction Project Manager, says the recommendation to use a Schweiss bifold door came from an online search, talking to the owner and studying other Schweiss doors he and the door installer had seen on the island. A big red barn just
across the street has a 65-foot Schweiss bifold door.
Simonson, a managing broker at Coldwell Banker, San Juan Islands, says her hangar will be used for storage purposes.
“My hangar is located less than a quarter mile from Roach Harbor Resort where floatplanes fly in,” she says. “Most of the bigger hangars here, 65 feet by 60 feet, typically have Schweiss doors. The bifold doors have a most favorable
brand name that everyone recognizes. For pilots, it’s good for resale.
“There are a number of hangars out here that have homes nearby or hangar homes attached to them. The individual who built it wanted the hangar big enough and tall enough to be able to hold the biggest plane on floats that can land in Roche Harbor.
I had our engineer contact Schweiss Doors to make sure the header that was being put in could handle the door.”
Roche Harbor Airport, with its 3,593-foot by 35-foot paved runway, is a private airport located one nautical mile northeast of the central business district of Roche Harbor in San Juan County. Visitors can also land at nearby Friday Harbor Airport. The
public-use airport had a 3,400-foot by 75-foot runway, 56 hangars and 46 privately owned hangars serving 143 aircraft.
Chance McClennan, a supervisor and door specialist with Vander Griend Lumber Company in Lynden, Wash., placed the order for the Schweiss bifold door and completed the installation.
“I’ve bid Schweiss doors in the past, but this was the first liftstrap door I’ve installed,” says McClellan. “The door install went awesome; it was simple with all the manuals that walk you through it. It was a big door,
but easy to put in. The door is very good quality – you can tell a lot of thought went into this style of door. The guys have been great. Love the door! Now that I’ve installed a strap door, that is the only way to go.”
McClellan says the people at Schweiss Doors were very good to work with. He only had to call Dave Schweiss once to answer a question on the auto latch system.
“The impression the door gives off is really cool,” Schmidt says. “To have a huge door like that, whether it’s open or closed, creates a neat experience and environment within the hangar.”