Need advice: Teak Deck removal and what to do about the toe rail

[Raphdiaz]

I have a 33 year old Cardinal 46. the teak deck is at the end of its life. i am going to remove the teak deck and most likely repair the glass, top coat and non-skid.

this particular build was done with the teak decking sandwiched between the aluminum toe rail and fiberglass deck. I reallllly do not want to have to remove the toe rail to remove all of the teak. that is more problems than i want to deal with... unless someone has some helpful insight.

has anyone experience this kind of construction before? i am thinking of leaving the teak between the toe rail then fairing it into the glass deck with micro balloons and putting glass over that. anyone see any issues with this? any other ideas?

Appreciate the help!

[Muaddib1116]

If you're not having any issues with leaking at the toe rail, then I think your idea seems fine. Just do a really really good job with the glassing over, you don't want to create a situation where water gets into where the wood is and is trapped. Honestly, if you can trim the teak nicely, I'd just leave it exposed.

[Raphdiaz]

I might consider doing that. unfortunately the teak under the toe rail is not a continuous strip and enters the toe rail as multiple planks at an angle. there will be some separations along the way but I might be able to fill those with teak caulking or turn them into drainage points.

[Paul L]

If you are going to epoxy seal the inside, you may want to also seal the outside of the teak - or reseal. Maybe a router and then epoxy and filler.

[Searles]

Don’t do it,leaving the teak pieces under the alu toe rail will cause grief down the track, do it properly do it once ,sleep better, ‘this is probably also the hull deck joint ⛵️⚓️

[Raphdiaz]

My main concern for removing the toe rail is that it is likely the hull deck joint and I do not want to disturb it. it is currently sealed and not leaking. most of the teak decking not under the toe rail is thin starting to peal away. if I wanted to remove the toe rail I'm not sure how I would access all of the fasteners since they are buried all along the hull to deck joint. anyone have experience removing the toe rail? would I have to remove the mast and standing rigging to relieve the load on the hull?

[Searles]

The toe rail fastenings may well be part of the fastenings used in the hull deck joint ,should have fastenings under the teak decking And the joint should be glassed inside and out ,removing the toe rail should have no affect on the rig ,but I don’t know the boat ,would suggest more investigation before diving into the job .⛵️⚓️

[picklesandjesse]

Originally Posted by Searles

The toe rail fastenings may well be part of the fastenings used in the hull deck joint ,should have fastenings under the teak decking And the joint should be glassed inside and out ,removing the toe rail should have no affect on the rig ,but I don’t know the boat ,would suggest more investigation before diving into the job .⛵️⚓️

This same thing was done on 37ft boat that I was interested in. That was a deal breaker for me. Getting too old I guess.

[Ramona]

I'm doing a similar job right now except I have plywood under the teak. I have had to remove the toe rail. My toe rail was held down with large self tapping screws down through the the teak and ply and the fibreglass shelf underneath. There was no sealant used under the toerail and in the holes through the teak and even though the teak looked good water still caused damage in the immediate area. In your case if you could arrange it so water runs away from the toe rail you may get away with it. Chiselling out or use a router to remove the teak so you get a fillet to fill the area so that the epoxy fillet is filling the area directly between the alloy and the fibreglass. Epoxy sticks well to teak after it's cleaned up. The alloy will need to be clean too just before you apply the fillet. Any damage down the track will be localized and will just need some creative stuff.
In my case I'm just laying fibreglass cloth with epoxy over the ply.

[tkeithlu]

If you route it and use epoxy with glass balloons or cut fiber, work it into the cracks above and below the piece of teak really well, using a slow-setting mix. You don't want it to crack.

On the other hand, routing and then leaving it looks attractive. It would not be difficult to seal up the places where the sharp end of boards protrude, or cut through at those locations, as you say, for drainage.

[Raphdiaz]

Thanks for all of your replies! I will post some actual pictures of the deck in a few days. so far we have three options:
1. leave the teak exposed and use the angled entries as drainage
2. fair in the teak with microballoons then glass it into the deck
3. tear apart the interior and find all of the nuts to remove the toe rail.

has anyone actually done option 3 before? is there a workaround or do you really have to get in there and remove each one from both sides of the deck?

[Bill Seal]

What you DON'T want to do is seal the outboard side, that will force any water that happens to get under the toe rail, from whatever source, to drain down the screws into the interior.

[chouliha]

Originally Posted by Raphdiaz

Thanks for all of your replies! I will post some actual pictures of the deck in a few days. so far we have three options:
1. leave the teak exposed and use the angled entries as drainage
2. fair in the teak with microballoons then glass it into the deck
3. tear apart the interior and find all of the nuts to remove the toe rail.

has anyone actually done option 3 before? is there a workaround or do you really have to get in there and remove each one from both sides of the deck?

While we never had teak decks we did remove the teak toe rail from bow to stern. It was huge job especially while living aboard. But the toe rail leaked so bad that I had no choice. As you can imagine there were a lot of bolts, caulk in the hair and all over myself.

The good news is after 32 years and lots of offshore miles with the deck awash there are NO leaks!

[Raphdiaz]

That must be an awesome feeling of accomplishment. how did you get to the inside of the joint to remove bolts? did you have to tear apart your interior? mine currently does not leak which is why i do not want to mess with the toe rail.