Scallop cut wood handrails are beautiful but a nightmare to keep looking nice. Our 1990 Catalina 42 has them. The original installation had them through-bolted with the bolt heads inside the rails and acorn nuts on the underside of the cabin top that are hidden by a teak trim batten. The intention may have been to make them removable but the flat head 1/4" bolts under the plugs would rotate on about half of them when I first tried to remove them for refinish about 15 years ago. The teak was long neglected and not very good quality to begin with. I ended up demolishing them and changing the design to use lag screws from below up into the scallop pedestals. Instead of sealant I made individual gaskets from 1/16" buna-N (Nitrile) sheet - 50 durometer firmness. The old new rails worked great except... The 5/4 (1" thick) teak I had on hand at the time was a wide piece but too short. Nothing like a challenge so I made a 6:1 edge lap joint with a spline. This worked great until the epoxy I used to make the joint got UV damage and started to splinter. I repaired and refinished them once about 6 years ago but the splinter came back. Looked bad and a bit of a safety hazard. Teak is getting pretty expensive so this time around a took a page from Tom Y's book and went with Ipe. Found a nice piece of 4/5 with good, tight vertical grain. $70 vs. the $200 plus for teak.
Here is a photo-essay of the project:
After doing an Autocad layout a bunch of 3" holes - 24 total. The carbide Spyder bit cut a but rougher than my normal hole saws but did have the advantage the the large gullet for each tooth allowed the sawdust to come out. The first experimental cut with a regular steel hole saw took about 10 in/outs to clean the teeth. Ipe is very abrasive and the saw was a bit dull after just one hole. The outer edge of this piece was beveled on the ends and a 1/2" round-over on the router table made what will be the rounded top.
Holes done.
Cut in half.
It had to be cut open to be able to open the spans with a bandsaw. Internal mantra - "Don't let your brain wander and cut the wrong place." Repeat continuously.
Some work with the drum sander.
Clamp them back together and use a 3/8" round-over on the inside.
Lots of finish sanding followed by 6 coats of clear urethane. I use a 2-part automotive top coat that sets quickly, is very hard and not effected by UV.
The Ipe looks more like mahogany than teak but harder and more dense. We will see how everything holds up. The cabin top surface where these rails go is smooth and flat. If it had been non-skid I would have gone to 1/8" buna-N for the gaskets. Neoprene would have been just as good but I had some of the buna-N left over from a real work project. The clear finish holds up very well but once it gets dinged moisture gets under it and it lifts. I think that is probably an issue with any gloss finish. The same finish on the previous set held up well until the lap joint started to split. We cover them with sunbrella covers most of the time. We can tell we are really cruising when the rail covers come off!
Here is a photo-essay of the project:
After doing an Autocad layout a bunch of 3" holes - 24 total. The carbide Spyder bit cut a but rougher than my normal hole saws but did have the advantage the the large gullet for each tooth allowed the sawdust to come out. The first experimental cut with a regular steel hole saw took about 10 in/outs to clean the teeth. Ipe is very abrasive and the saw was a bit dull after just one hole. The outer edge of this piece was beveled on the ends and a 1/2" round-over on the router table made what will be the rounded top.
Holes done.
Cut in half.
It had to be cut open to be able to open the spans with a bandsaw. Internal mantra - "Don't let your brain wander and cut the wrong place." Repeat continuously.
Some work with the drum sander.
Clamp them back together and use a 3/8" round-over on the inside.
Lots of finish sanding followed by 6 coats of clear urethane. I use a 2-part automotive top coat that sets quickly, is very hard and not effected by UV.
The Ipe looks more like mahogany than teak but harder and more dense. We will see how everything holds up. The cabin top surface where these rails go is smooth and flat. If it had been non-skid I would have gone to 1/8" buna-N for the gaskets. Neoprene would have been just as good but I had some of the buna-N left over from a real work project. The clear finish holds up very well but once it gets dinged moisture gets under it and it lifts. I think that is probably an issue with any gloss finish. The same finish on the previous set held up well until the lap joint started to split. We cover them with sunbrella covers most of the time. We can tell we are really cruising when the rail covers come off!
