Toe rail

[ezasfishin]

Hi List,
This is my first post to this list. Could some of you offer me some advice? I recently bought a 1966 Sailmaster 22. It is a glass boat with wood spars and alot of teak trim. I want to add a wood toe rail. I could make it out of 1.5" x 1.5" stock. I would need 2 boards 14' long. Is it possible to get teak that long? Would some other type of wood be better? How well does teak bend?
Thanks,
EZ

[dasboat]

EZ,you can get teak that long,but it will cost you an arm,a leg,and one ear.That stuff is costly.
It does not bend well.In fact it is quite brittle in my humble view.Bending 1 1/2x1 1/2might be doable.
You could buy shorter stock(not as expensive)and scarf pieces together.
Dasboat

[This message has been edited by dasboat (edited 07-29-2001).]

[Thad]

1 1/2" square is too big and not the right shape. 3/4" to an inch high square up on the outside and tapering from 3/4" to 5/8" or 1/2" on the inside would look better. You can indeed get teak 14' and longer, and the quantity you need is small enough that even if you think the price terrible the cost will not be that much. Teak in these dimensions should bend to your rail fine.

[paladin]

If you use epoxy and scarph the teak, be sure to clean the surfaces to be glued liberally with acetone to move the oils. Coat the pieces with CPES and then after the required drying time use the preferred epoxy...

[jerry s]

There is no real advantage to using teak, unless you just want the headaches and expense associated with this product. Mahogany is much more affordable and varnishes up nicely. By the way, there was a book written about a circumnavigation of the Delmarva in a sailmaster 22. I believe it was titled Eastern Shore Westward Wind or Westward Wind Eastern Shore. You might want to check it out.

[Scott Rosen]

"No real advantage to using teak."

Unless you want to leave the wood bare, in which case teak is just about the only wood that will do the trick and look good too. Ever see what happens to "that other tropical wood" when left unfinished?

[ezasfishin]

Thanks everyone for your replies. I think I want to use teak just because it will match the existing trim. Could I mix teak and mahogany? On a previous boat, I used Sikken's Cetol synthetic finish. It held up very well but I didn't care for the redish brown color. I'm thinking of using West Marine Woodpro. It too is synthetic but they claim it is more clear than Sikkens. Anybody use it?

Thanks, EZ

[dasboat]

You can mix the stuff w/o a problem in my experience.I laminated alternate rings of hon.and teak for my hatch rings(the cast bronze hatches sit on top).They stayed stuck together and are beautiful with their alternate dark chestnut and golden colors.
Dasboat

[Keith Wilson]

I just finished using West Marine's Wood Pro (imitation Cetol) on a small boat I'm building. I have used Cetol for quite a while, reluctantly putting up with the color, because it's very durable, particularly over CPES. The West stuff seems very similar to the Cetol (muddy brown in the can) but looks a lot better on wood. Mahogany looks like mahogany, spruce looks like spruce, and Meranti plywood looks quite nice. With standard Cetol, every kind of wood tends to converge to the same orangish-brown. I'll let you know in five years how it holds up.

Sikkens, BTW, now also makes a "Cetol Light" which suposedly is not as orangish. I haven't tried it.

[Classic Boatworks - Maine]

We replaced a teak toerail on a 38' sailboat and the photos are on our website.
http://www.classicboatworksofmaine.com/toerail.html
We used 1.5 X 3 tapered to the top and tapered to 1.5 X 1.5 to the stern.

[Smacksman]

Sikkens Cetol 7 comes in various stains and clear-ish [light oak] and I have found it brilliant except for 'high traffic' areas as it isn't very hard.
I made a toe rail from 3/4" copper water tube from your friendly plumber sitting on their mounting saddles and screwed through into the deck. Goes a bit verdigris to start with then mellows to a bronzy patina. Absolute zero maintenance.
Marvelous for tying light lines to.
V cheap to replace if damaged.
Teak is a bit soft for a toe rail - mahog or oak would be tougher. Sorry, teak does look pretty. It's just the workboat in me that's talking. If you use teak [or any other wood you want to keep pretty] screw on some half round brass strip to take the rub of mooring lines. Workboats just show their indentations from lines with rugged pride