Teak or Plastique hand rails.

[DAVA390]

I removed my hand rails, hatchboard rails and gas tank rail today with the intention of sanding and refinishing over the winter.
As you can see, the port rail is fatally wounded.., well, if they were in better shape I might try a repair but they are all pretty rough shape.
Not being a fan of woodworking or maintenance, I`m thinking about replacing them all with plastique.
I`m not familiar with it, I`m not a woodworker so I have questions.
I was surprised that the bolt hole spacing on the rails was not consistent. from stern going forward spacing is about 9", 10.25", 9.25 ". These are through bolted, I removed the plastic caps and nuts in the cabin headliner and pried them up.
If the replacements are not predrilled, (It`s unlikely they are I figure, certainly won`t match my bolt holes) I reckon I would just position them over the existing holes and run a tiny drill bit up through from the inside through the bolt holes to mark the undersides. I would then be inclined to just run wood or sheetmetal screws in from the bottom and not through bolt them this time. Yes/No/ maybe?

 

[woodster]

no they need to be through bolted ..you depend on these at time to stay on the boat ...if you have a wood working friend make them out of what ever material you choose and us the old one as a template to drill by

 

[centerline]

as Woodster says, absolutely thru bolted...
and if you know someone with wood working skills, they could easily repair the broken end.... glue it all back together, using epoxy which is stronger than the wood itself.
then drill it oversize to plug it solid with new wood, then redrill a new hole..

 

[Steve L22188]

You'll be surprised!

Can't tell too much from the photo, but if these are teak you'll be surprised at how these will clean up with a little sandpaper and the right finish.

Re-using the originals would help with the hole spacing. Gorilla glue or some other wood glue will fix the broken piece.

Clean one of them up - and then you'll like what you see.

 

[Tom G P-21]

I'm glad to see you are not talking about explosives. Its called plasteak, you definitely don't want plastique on your boat. A friend of mine and I tried to make it back in the 9th grade (but that's another story).

 

[$tingy Sailor]

I agree with the others. If most of the wood is still there, teak can be refinished from virtually any condition. If you've got all winter to work at it, try it for yourself. It takes only basic skills, it's not expensive ($60 for my whole C-22), you'll learn a lot, and if you're patient and don't take shortcuts, you'll get results that will amaze you.

As a friend of mine is fond of saying about plastic trimmed sailboats, they have "the personality of a Clorox bleach bottle."

For an overview of the process with before and after pictures, see Exterior teak restoration on my blog.

 

[bffatcat]

grab rails

I agree with the guys Wood is the way to go. Namely teak I have teak rails on my vintage pearson 26W They have been there since the boat was built. If you choose they need no maintanence. I just let mine weather up and turn gray. One more thing If you replace with mahogany you are going to have to varnish them.

 

[DAVA390]

Re: grab rails

Well you guys have swayed me. I looked at the Stingy Sailor blog. Beautiful work. I have all winter ahead of me, I`m gonna try to re-use what I have. If I totally screw them up then I will get new. We`ll see. Thanks for replies and photos.

 

[kenackerman]

There's no question that freshly varnished teak looks excellent. I used to use Helmsman spar varnish before it became part of the MinWax line. I found that the longest it would last was about 2 years before it had to be renewed.

Pressed for time like many of us are, I gave up on varnish and just went with teak oil as a seasonal chore after light sanding. As the pictures in Stingy's blog show, there is indeed a marked difference in brilliance between a varnished piece of teak and an oiled piece of teak.

What the pictures don't show, however, is the difference in time required between the two approaches. We're talking about weeks for a great varnish job like Stingy did, and a one day job to clean, dry, lightly hand sand the teak and apply teak oil.

I realize that he used the best current varnish which no doubt is light years ahead of the Helmsman I used 10 years ago, but that did not affect the time it took to do the job. If you choose to take the time to use varnish you will have beautiful teak without question. Personally, I would only do it just before selling the boat unless the varnishes have come a very long way from when I tried it last.

 

[centerline]

There's no question that freshly varnished teak looks excellent. I used to use Helmsman spar varnish before it became part of the MinWax line. I found that the longest it would last was about 2 years before it had to be renewed.

Pressed for time like many of us are, I gave up on varnish and just went with teak oil as a seasonal chore after light sanding. As the pictures in Stingy's blog show, there is indeed a marked difference in brilliance between a varnished piece of teak and an oiled piece of teak.

What the pictures don't show, however, is the difference in time required between the two approaches. We're talking about weeks for a great varnish job like Stingy did, and a one day job to clean, dry, lightly hand sand the teak and apply teak oil.

I realize that he used the best current varnish which no doubt is light years ahead of the Helmsman I used 10 years ago, but that did not affect the time it took to do the job. If you choose to take the time to use varnish you will have beautiful teak without question. Personally, I would only do it just before selling the boat unless the varnishes have come a very long way from when I tried it last.

you are right that a good varnish job takes a bit of time takes a bit of time to get that base coat on, but once its there, it is very easy every 2 or 3 years to scrub it with a scotch brite pad, mask around it and give it a quick going over with another coat...

it only takes one coat to renew the shine to full luster if you have a good base coat on to begin with, and renewing it every couple of years is fast. it takes longer to mask it than it does to scotch brite and paint the new coat of varnish on....

 

[DAVA390]

Would teak oil itself be considered an acceptable stopping point, or does it not hold up to weather without varnish or some other sealer?

I just read an email reply from Precision. replacement hatch slides and gas tank locker rail would be white plastic. That seals it for me, I`ll try to reuse the wood.

 

[DAVA390]

Next issue is how to get the screws out without destroying the wood. one rail has wooden (BungS ?) the dowel rod caps over the screw heads. They seem to be in pretty tightly. It`s the one with the broken piece, looking in the screw hole on the broken piece makes me think there is some plastic or epoxy in the holes.

 

[kenackerman]

See my post just above, stopping at teak oil is what many people do (like I did) who do not want to spend the extra time on varnish. It's really an individual choice. If you live where it is bright sun most of the time, you may have to re-oil twice a year. If you live where the sun is not as intense, once a year is usually sufficient.

 

[Daveinet]

Replacement Teak grab rails are pretty cheap from West Marine. Of course if they are salvageable then sand them and refinish. However if they are cracked, just buy replacements.

Now having said that, I made my own grab rails from "Brazilian" Teak. I used decking boards, so they were much thicker than the standard handles. Teak is a very tough wood. You must pre-drill the hole, or you will break off the screws long before they are fully into the wood. I used stainless decking screws to attach. I used large washers to prevent pull through on the fiberglass side. I drilled the holes into the top of the fiberglass. Then while holding the handle in place, I started the screws into the bottom side. Then backed them out, so I could pre-drill the holes. That kept my alignment correct. Once the holes were drilled, I screwed them in tight from the bottom side. I can tell you that with 2.5 inch deck screws, those handles were not going anywhere. I often used the Teak handles to tie off the boat. I have no doubt I could have lifted the boat from the Teak grab handles. Once the screws are tight, the only force is upward. The tensile strength of deck screws is plenty strong enough to carry the weight of anything you would ever use those handles for. The most important thing is thick big washers. They were as tight as the day I put them on 3 years later when I sold the boat.

 

[EnginesForward]

I am a retired finish carpenter. Take the advice from the member that suggested Gorilla Glue you should thru-bolt them down. The bolt will keep it from breaking again. I am rebuilding and modifying a V-22. Adding lockers etc. I am using swifter wet floor pads cut in 3rds to apply stain, polyurithane, spar varnish they don't loose bristles are cheap and I just throw them away when I'm done (don't forget to use disposable vinyl gloves)

 

[CCrane2299]

If its not ok to post a link here, please delete...

I don't think you can make them for this kind of money...


http://www.go2marine.com/product/35422F/marinco-afi-teak-handrails-deck-hardware.html

 

[$tingy Sailor]

Dava390,

You don't need to take the bolts out. Work around them.

 

[scott754]

If you are not into wood maintenance I like the idea of the Plasteak although I am not familiar with the product. After a number of wood boats my Catalina has 0 wood trim except for the companion way doors I made. I am a retired cabinet maker with a full shop and like a winter project. Not too faraway in PA. Contact me I you need help. No charge.

 

[DAVA390]

I ended up ordering new from Go2 marine recommended above . Rails arrived today, they appear to be quite nice at almost 1/2 price of WM. Thanks again, all.