Toe Rail and Rubbing stroke

                                       Rubbing stroke and Toe Rail

   Before I removed the rubbing stroke and the Toe rails detailed pictures and measurement were taken this since I was aware that none of the removed wood could be saved nor re installed again.

Unfortunately with these repairs some pictures are missing due to a failure of my camera.

The wood for the rubbing stroke was cut from a larger plank and sanded and inside where it is mounted against the hull it was protected with two component epoxy.

The next step was to clean the hull where the plank would be mounted against and check if the area was a straight area so that a flush contact would exist between the plank and the hull.

Next pictures show before and after sanding.

The straight sides are not too difficult but for the bow which is round and slight curves up it are more difficult.

The same as with the beam under decks of the bow a template of carton was made.

Then from a plank with the same thickness the plank for the rubbing stroke was cut and was kept larger since I have seen in the past that when a perfect piece was made from a carton template that when the actual piece was installed on the boat that the wood was cut to small.

The plank was mounted with screws in the final position.

The next step was cut the top of the plank which was sticking out above the deck to make it flush with the deck biggest part was cut off with a multi-tool and then sanded.

Plank was removed again and cut with a small circular saw on the correct width.

Both bow rubbing stroke plank were fabricated the same way.

All planks were removed slightly sanded on the inside and glued with epoxy glue and screwed as well against the ship’s hull.

All was than sanded on the outside protected with epoxy and several layers of two component varnish,

Next step was to install a new toe rail on top of the deck.

Toe rails were cut with a circular saw to the right dimensions and the correct angle, measurement were taken from an old piece of toe rail.

I worked from aft to forward by installing the toe rail in the correct position on top of the deck.

Toe rails were screwed temporary into the correct position with stainless steel screws.

The length of the planks I used was 5 meter so the second part of the toe rail starts around mid-ships. With a strap and some tension was the toe rail put in position on top of the deck and screwed in place.

To be able to use this method the toe rail should be cut in the correct way from a plank with the grain of the wood following the toe rail otherwise it will be very difficult to bend the wood as well as that it will split.

It is impossible to bend the wood all the way around the bow and as used original the toe rail for the bow was made of laminated planks, original 5 thin planks were used but I decided that it was possible to do the new toe rail out of 3 planks.

The same method was used with a carton template to decide the curve of the wood on the deck before the actual planks were cut to seize.

The method I used was to bend and glue the new toe rail in place. First step was to glue the first two planks and then the next day the third plank.

Deck was protected with tape to prevent that epoxy glue would stick between the deck and the to be glued toe rail.

Then blocks were screwed onto the deck slightly in a curve which was larger than the curve of the deck where the toe rail would be mounted onto. The reason for this extra curve is that would glue together will try to come back into the original straight plank form.

As can be seen from the next pictures a lot of clamps have been used to glue both planks together and to hold the planks in the correct place.

The next day the third plank was glued to the first two planks as expected the glued plank would straighten a bit and were outside the original curve of the bow.

The third plank was glued against the first two planks but between the flanks and the wooden distance blocks on the deck an extra piece of wood was placed of different thickness to give the glued planks an extra curve so that when the glue was dry and the planks were removed and would bend back a bit they still would follow the curve of the bow.

When all was set and glue dried the bow toe rail was cut and sanded into the right form with angels and the correct height.

First step in this process was to sand the bottom of the toe rail flush and check if it was also with a flush contact with the deck before the rest of the toe rail would be shaped.

When all was prepared complete toe rail from stern to bow with the toe rail in place both side of the toe rail was tape placed onto the deck and the rubbing stroke.

This was done to prevent that epoxy glue would come onto the sanded deck and rubbing stroke.

The rubbing strokes were removed all was cleaned and the rubbing stroke was than glued with epoxy glue onto the deck as well as screwed in position.

An excess of colored epoxy glue was used to make sure that there was a 100% contact between the glue deck and rubbing stroke as can be seen for the next picture glue is coming out everywhere.

Since it is very difficult to remove the dried epoxy glue the next day and to shape it the glue was removed after the toe rail was screwed onto the deck, this was done with a tool as can be seen from the next picture to create a small curve between the toe rail and the deck and toe rail and rubbing stroke to prevent that water will enter between the two.

Next step is to remove the tape before the epoxy dries.

As can be seen from the next picture there is always a little epoxy creeping under the tape but since this is such a thin layer it can easily be removed by hand with some sand paper.

This is done at the same time that the toe rail will be final sanded.

Last step of the toe rail is the installation of the plugs which were glued in with colored epoxy glue as well.

Next to the entrance of the steering cabin is the position of the mounting plate for the railing.

When removing this plate I noticed that there was a gap between the wood and the top side of this plate.

Since I would like to have full contact between the two I made the position of this plate slightly higher to prevent in the first place that there would be a gap between the two but also to prevent that the support would rest onto the deck which prevents future maintenance to the wood.

The area under the stainless steel support is protected with epoxy and two component UV varnish

Last step was to sand all and protect the wood; this was done for the toe rail with Owatrol D1 and D2

What was left now is the toe rail/rubbing stroke of the stern.

This part is curved as well as that it is round.

I have tried to make this piece out of one piece but unfortunately my carpenter skills failed so I was left with the same procedure as used for the bow toe rail to build it up from different pieces of wood.

Actually I used 4 pieces these were cut from one piece.

The same as with the toe rail the boat was protected with tape to prevent that epoxy would get onto the teak deck and the stern.

Then the first piece was screwed against the stern in such a way that it would follow the shape of the stern.

First piece was with epoxy glued against this fixed plank.

When the glue was dry all was removed and sanded clean excess of epoxy.

Since this was the base for the rest of this plank it was glued with epoxy glue and screwed against the stern.

Same as with the rubbing stroke planks the stern was sanded flush where the new plank would be fitted against.

The plank as now glued with colored epoxy glue and screwed against the stern.

The next step was to screw and glue the next plank against the mounted plank onto the stern.

It was made sure since these screw holes with plugs are visible that the distance between them were the same.

Last plank to finish the complete structure was glued against the first 3.

All was sanded and protected with epoxy and last but not least protected against UV with two component varnish, 3 coats.

Finished installation of the two pieces of wood.