Proper backing for teak rub strake/rail

[brianontheroad]

During Selah's refit, we found that her 20 odd foot teak rub strake with bronze rub rail is through bolted through the hull and a basically matching wood backing board that was glassed in. Over time, water has come in through some of those holes into the backing board and is rotten in areas.

I'm considering removing the entire rub rail, cutting out the rotten backing strip and rebedding. The question is how to properly back it, the hull where the rub strake is just over 1/2" thick, would oversize washers suffice?

the one thing I like about the current setup is that the backing was glassed in, so when one of the bolts leaked, it didn't come in the boat, the thing I didn't like finding out, was that it was wood and rotted in areas

I could use stainless backing plates in areas, or coosa board, or just about any material, just curious how this is done in other boats and what other suggestions CF folks have

Thanks!

[atoll]

this was quite a common practise in early fiberglass boats where a lot of the technology overlapped with that of wooden boat building.

removing the rotted timber and fiberglass inside may cause the hull to lose some stiffness along the toerail and cause some flex if not replaced and reglassed in.

penny washers,ss bolts and lots of polyerathane adhesive should be fine for a watertight fastner.