Eyebrow removal

[jibes138]

I bit the bullet and removed those thin strips of teak that run along the top exterior edge of the coach roof. They are so thin and long that maintaining them is a nightmare and on one side the wood had broken in half in two places. I countersunk the screw holes and filled them with a thickened epoxy mixture. I plan to get some blue vinyl tape and run that along both sides to cover the filled screw holes so I don't have to worry about gel coating the holes and matching colors and to give it the same look. Anybody else ever tackle this on a 34 or 35?

I sanded and coated all the rest of the exterior wood over the last week, what a PITA. Using Cetol they want you to put on 4 or 5 coats with 24 hours between each coat. I'd like to replace all the caps on the toerail with stainless steel also. It is a real body breaker to refinish those little strips considering there is about 50 feet of them all in difficult to reach positions.

 

[DannyS]

It's on my list of things to address. I don't know if I'll remove them or refinish or replace them with a Trex-like product. I replaced all of the toerails with a product called Timbertech (similar to Trex) about 5 years ago and love the way they look. They've held up well too. Unfortunately, they changed the way they make the stuff now and the new doesn't match the old so I'm back to the drawing board. Can you post a photo of what you did?

 

[jibes138]

I'll take some photos when I get back to the boat. The wood strips are just shy of 14 feet long and only 1/2 inch wide. West has some 1/2 wide tape in dark blue that is 50 feet long for about 12 bucks. Trouble is they don't have a color chart so buying it will be a crap shoot. Most times at the store they don't have what I need in stock. Defender only has wider tape.

A lot of that fake wood seems to have a top veneer that looks OK but if you rip it to the width you want one edge will be the texture of the "core." Was your fake wood the same all the way through?

On the Defender site they have stainless rub strakes in 3/4 or 1 inch widths and either 8 feet or 12 feet long. Seems like that's the way to go but they are pretty pricey. According to Rudy's site the teak strips are 1 inch wide. I didn't measure lengths but the front piece and the middle piece are pretty long then a shorter piece aft. I'm sure a little cutting trimming and polishing will make them fit, I think 12 feet would work for the forward two pieces, now that means (4) 12 footers and say (2) 8 footers. So that is 2 x $95 plus 4 times $135. Plus about 135 screws for probably another 40 bucks. Looks like $770 plus shipping. Maybe my back doesn't hurt that much after all :>). I should be good with the cetol for a while but the can says put a "maintenance" coat on every year. Time to hire a high school kid for minimum wage!

 

[njlarry]

Somewhere I saw photos of one boat with a painted eyebrow that looked great. Dark blue tape should look just as great with a LOT less work and easier to change later.
Good luck and please post some photos of the job.

 

[DannyS]

Here's a photo of the material I used, ripped to width, routed and sanded. The machining changes the color of the new surface so this photo shows two pieces, one oiled and one left raw. I liked the uniform look of the oiled surfaces so that's the way I went. In the 5 years they've been in place, I've never had to oil them again and they are still very uniform in color.
This was the old formula of Timbertech. The new has the veneer surface and it looks terrible when ripped to expose the sides. The veneer also chips off without the protection all the way around the board. I kick myself for not doing the entire job before they changed things. I bought enough lumber the first time (one piece) to do the front two toerails on both sides. I couldn't get the smaller aft toerails and eyebrows out of the initial piece so I thought this would just be a test... then they went and changed the formula!

 

[jibes138]

That stuff looks great Danny. I saw some of the fake wood has grooves in the bottom, but I have seen solid boards like these in various places with high traffic. I've never seen it in that color. I'm sure it is cheaper than the stainless rub strakes. I'll check out a local commercial lumber shop and see what they have or what they can order. Thanks.

 

[DannyS]

I milled the underside down to get the proper thickness. This may have had the grooves on the bottom too.

 

[dennisv]

The wood eyebrows make the boat beautiful. I have a ODay 28 and one of the eyebrows (starboard side) was missing when I purchased the boat. Teak was ridiculously expensive. Went to the local independent lumber "MILL". Had a piece of oak cut (hardwood) to the square side. $14.00 total. Seem to remember 14 ft. Borrowed a friend rotor to put a 45 degree chamfer on each side of the wood ( OK, the factory is rounded, but .....). Went to Sears and got a manual drill press (approx. $20.00-$30.00). Lined up holes above the cabin with the wood. Marked the holes, drilled the holes, came after the holes with a larger bit to accommodate the screw head. Stained with Centol. Looks great. Is it the exact same as the port side? Size wise "YES", profile "NO" (but close). Can you see both side of the boat at the same time "NO". Easy and gorgeous. Only one year of use so far, so I can't comment on how well the hardwood will hold up.

 

[jibes138]

Here's a couple shots I promised of the eyebrow removal and replacement with dark blue striping tape.

 

[Ward H]

I like the tape. Nice accent.

 

[Coyote]

our PO removed the teak eye brows, too much effort given the FL sun,,
I replaced his tape accent stripe with a new one, and much prefer it.

cheers,
Coyote

 

[SailingCal21]

Here's a couple shots I promised of the eyebrow removal and replacement with dark blue striping tape.

Looks good Jibes.