I am almost 100% sure my leak is from the toe rail, my surveyor reccomends pulling the toe rails off and rebedding. Has anyone gone this route? Is it better to pull away old caulking and re-caulk? What other problems can I encounter if I do pull the toe rails?
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I would torque it down first.
Dave: I would recommend that you torque the entire toe rail. Get a buddy with a large phillips head screw driver that has a fitting for an end wrench. Then get a torque wrench with a deep socket. Start torquing the bolts down to a predetermined torque setting (I have no idea what would be a good setting). With this outward turned flange on the H34 it is not going to be very easy to do any caulking. I do not think that there was any caulk under the toe rail. I think that there is some type of sealant between the flanges of the deck and the hull. If this does not work, then you may want to consider R/R the entire rail. I would bet this may take 8-12 hours to remove this, clean it up, recaulking and replacing the entire thing. The bow and stern pulpits also need to be removed (bolts through the toe rail too).
Dave: I would recommend that you torque the entire toe rail. Get a buddy with a large phillips head screw driver that has a fitting for an end wrench. Then get a torque wrench with a deep socket. Start torquing the bolts down to a predetermined torque setting (I have no idea what would be a good setting). With this outward turned flange on the H34 it is not going to be very easy to do any caulking. I do not think that there was any caulk under the toe rail. I think that there is some type of sealant between the flanges of the deck and the hull. If this does not work, then you may want to consider R/R the entire rail. I would bet this may take 8-12 hours to remove this, clean it up, recaulking and replacing the entire thing. The bow and stern pulpits also need to be removed (bolts through the toe rail too).
Nuts and Bolts
We had toe rail leaks when we bought our H31(same toerail design as H34). We removed each bolt, cleaned the hole and squirted a little fresh caulk in and replaced and tightened the nut and bolt. We replaced with new nuts and bolts since cleaning the old ones was slow and vexing. This completely eliminated any leaks. BTW, we did this with the mast up so we removed every other bolt, seviced and replaced and then went back and did the others. We felt this maintained the integrity of the hull/deck joint during servicing. Laura Bertran 1985 H31 #514 Rising Tide
We had toe rail leaks when we bought our H31(same toerail design as H34). We removed each bolt, cleaned the hole and squirted a little fresh caulk in and replaced and tightened the nut and bolt. We replaced with new nuts and bolts since cleaning the old ones was slow and vexing. This completely eliminated any leaks. BTW, we did this with the mast up so we removed every other bolt, seviced and replaced and then went back and did the others. We felt this maintained the integrity of the hull/deck joint during servicing. Laura Bertran 1985 H31 #514 Rising Tide
Too much work.
Steve is right, many hours required to remove stanchions, pulpits, and toe-rail bolts. And this assumes you can reach them all from below. I think Hunter used a butyl seal, almost like a piece of collapsed hose. The problem is the bolt holes when the bolts loosen, not the seal itself. I don't think you have to worry about "foot pounds", just tighten them with a 1/4" drive ratchet. You will need a 7/16" deep socket I think. Plus an extension or two and probably a universal, or one of those flexible extensions. I plan to add a fiber locknut to every third or fourth bolt and see if that helps. Let us know your fix.
Steve is right, many hours required to remove stanchions, pulpits, and toe-rail bolts. And this assumes you can reach them all from below. I think Hunter used a butyl seal, almost like a piece of collapsed hose. The problem is the bolt holes when the bolts loosen, not the seal itself. I don't think you have to worry about "foot pounds", just tighten them with a 1/4" drive ratchet. You will need a 7/16" deep socket I think. Plus an extension or two and probably a universal, or one of those flexible extensions. I plan to add a fiber locknut to every third or fourth bolt and see if that helps. Let us know your fix.
My rigger tightened mine when my boat was..
only about 3 months old. He said Hunter suggested this be done when the boat had a chance to settle after being in the water for about 3 months. What we found is that the bolts would not tighten or loosen without breaking. So, Hunter sent an entire set of nuts and bolts for each hole and we preceeded to go from one hole to the next, breaking the bolt, inserting new bolt and nut and tighting it down. The sealer that hunter used oozed from underneath the toe rail and was very sticky and rubbery. After 20 years, my toe rail does not leak. Not sure what your options are after several years, but a call to Hunter might be a good thing before doing anything. Good luck.
only about 3 months old. He said Hunter suggested this be done when the boat had a chance to settle after being in the water for about 3 months. What we found is that the bolts would not tighten or loosen without breaking. So, Hunter sent an entire set of nuts and bolts for each hole and we preceeded to go from one hole to the next, breaking the bolt, inserting new bolt and nut and tighting it down. The sealer that hunter used oozed from underneath the toe rail and was very sticky and rubbery. After 20 years, my toe rail does not leak. Not sure what your options are after several years, but a call to Hunter might be a good thing before doing anything. Good luck.
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