Replacing a Toe Rail

[Phillip]

Hello All Mark 2 & 3's,

In my discussions with Formit's salesman, he did state that they regretted allowing some [number unknown] Top Hats leave the factory with the decks to be attached by the new owner.

From what he said I believe there may have been some problems, but I have never been able to confirmed this.

If your attachments do not look like Tom's drawings, then you may have one of those Top Hats.

I would therefore recommend that you have a shipwright or someone with expertise look at your deck attachments if you are having problems with deck movement, water entry or if the fibreglassing appears to be poorly done.

As far as I know this is not a problem with Mark 1's.

Phillip.

[bearmcnally]

Hello Hatters

The old toe rail eh ! and what to do ? Don't be mislead by your friendly shipwright about bending and steaming rubbish 'I bent a piece of silver ash 220mmx 10mm for a coaming on my putt putt "Billy Do " by laying it across 2 saw horses and placing weights on it until it bent to the shape I required . Teak is still my favorite ,yet Beech can also look great if you like a lighter colour Jarrah can also be used.

If you can glue a paddle pop sticks together then you should be able to replace a toerail .
The secret with teak is, when gluing it is important to make sure the scarf joint is clean ,as we all know teak is oily and will not glue well. The easiest way is to make the new toe rail in 4 sections per side 2 tops and 2 sides if you have to do it on your mooring . At home cut your scarfs and dry fit to make sure they fit nice ! as you will glue them together on the boat ,unless you can transport them to the boat in 1 length .
Anyway you want to fit the side pieces first ,so start from the back and work to the front . Try and make the scarf joint towards the front or at the flattest point on the hull so as little pressure is put on the scarf joint itself as this is where it will fail. then fit the top /capping .


You only need basic carpentry skills( year 7 stuff) and basic hand tools eg.a $20 hand saw some sliding 100mm clamps and a cheap cordless drill , hammer and chisel and all of these you can by from Bunnings. And most important band aids !

I personally believe anyone of you can replace your toe rails with a bit of patience time and asking questions ,it really isn't difficult .It's all about preparation and having the time ,and if you don't well I suppose you are at the mercy of the friendly shipwright

Cheers Bear

[SeaLady]

Bear, considering I think a scarf is something you wear around your neck!!!

And I did not do year 7 woodwook.
Wish I had now.

I am at the mercy of the shipwrights.

Or just leave the clamp holding the broken bits on there till it rusts off.

[Miker]

Good post Bear,

Mine are Jarrah, but are now very grey, as you witnessed on the lake last year when fixing it up after going under the jetty at Wangi.

The joints are as described by Tom, and the actual timber is one piece of 40mm x 40 mm with about 20mm routed out. They are in two pieces with the join around the front end of the genoa traveller. There aren't many screws, but those that were used appear to be stainless wood screws, helped on by copius amounts of sikaflex, which was put on in a very sloppy fashion, and is probably not necessary.

I think the biggest job is getting the old stuff off and cleaned up before making sure all the surfaces are sealed correctly before replacing the timbers. This may mean a good clean up with sand paper, then a re-application of some epoxy or flow coat to make sure the deck joint is secure.

It's also really important to work out where the low point is on the deck just under the toe rail, because there should be a drain to allow water to run off. In my case the drain is blocked off, perhaps to fix a leak, so there is always some water sitting there when I get to the mooring. Another wee jobbie to tackle when I feel like it.....

Diana, if you use a shipwright, tell them you know how you would like it done, but don't have the time. Perhaps they'll believe you know a little more than they expect and do the right thing.

[SeaLady]

Update....

Have decided to do a temporary fix.
Basically attempt to glue and clamp.

The clamps are holding, even with the sail yesterday, without glue.
For clamps am using SS and plasic pole holders from Whitworths. I guessed the right size.
Heaps easier and cheaper.

Then lots and lots of Sika to fill in the holes.

But that is a job for another day when I don't want to go for a sail.

[bearmcnally]

So Diana you can do it ?


Cheers Bear

[SeaLady]

Attn Bear and everyone else - especially anyone who has an aluminium toe rail.

I am having a shipwright take a look and he has suggested looking at perhaps aluminium especially as I would like to have some fairleads.

Does anyone know what profile is needed and where to buy it?

Also does anyone have fairleads with a timber toe rail?

How do you get around the 'lip' raised bizzo where the deck and the hull join.

Doesn't it have to be flat to be able to install fairleads?

[bearmcnally]

Hello Diana

Here are some profiles and the address
Ullrich Aluminum 185-187 Woodpark Road, Smithfield, NSW 2164 PO Box 2182, Smithfield 2164

Phone 8787 7400

Cheers Bear

[Shaun]

Hi Diana,
I'll be interested to hear what the shipwright suggests.

You will likely find the "raised lip bizzo" is hollow, so anything drilled through the raised area will need to be drilled oversize, filled with epoxy then re-drilled the correct size.

I drilled a 10-ish mm hole under the small crack-line (to act as a scupper) in the photos in this thread viewtopic.php?f=3&t=672 & it was hollow.

cheers

[storm petrel]

That lip on the toerail to which the timber gunwale is mounted is solid fibreglass on my Mk11. I drilled through it to fix stainless plates to it so I could attach pulleys near the stern for my spinnaker. Not sure about the situation on a Mk1?