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Rhian · 30-10-2014, 06:03

If anyone else has had this problem, hope our experience helps. In the Caribbean our Beneteau 473 has suffered from the teak toerail splitting where the cleats go through it, so we had to repair them recently.

The old aluminium spacers underneath the cleats had corroded, expanded and that was the cause of the wood splitting. New delrin ones have been made to replace them and we hope this will cure the problem. It wasn't a difficult job but needed a clamp to hold the teak together whilst the resin set.

There is more information on our website.

SVTatia · 30-10-2014, 09:57

Are the spacers right beneath the cleats - between the cleat and the deck? Just curious if delrin can take the same compression as aluminum when you tighten the bolts or stud nuts.

wsulli · 30-10-2014, 10:12

Why not just use a stainless nut and washer a lot cheaper and no compression worries.

**JPA Cate** · 30-10-2014, 15:08

Rhian,

I clicked on your blog to see pics of your repair, but missed them if they are there. Any suggestions for me? Thanks.

Ann

Rhian · 31-10-2014, 07:15

Yes, the spacers are between the cleat and deck but are quite large, an inch and half in depth and about an inch and a quarter across so pretty substantial. So far, no issues when we tightened it down and an engineer has indicated they should stand up to the punishment they will get.

Rhian · 31-10-2014, 07:18

Stainless steel nuts wouldn't have the diameter needed to spread the load and we would also need 4 or 5 of them to get the depth because the toenail is an inch and a half thick, so engineered delrin was recommended by a local engineering shop. The only issue can be, they can degrade in sunlight so we made sure they are well covered.