Teak Toe Rail Removal
Anne had spent the better part of two days cleaning the teak toe rail with teak cleaner. When we decided to peel the boat we knew we would be in dry dock at least until next summer. We were told by several people that removal of 30 year old teak toe rail in one piece was next to impossible but it should be done just in case it leaked. Upon a close inspection of the toe rail you could see cracks in the rail around the chain plates and various pieces missing. The rail was in bad shape, cleaning helped but I didn't want to finish the entire boat restoration and find out after we were out sailing that the hull seal under the toe rail leaked. We were prepping the entire boat for a paint job, so we decided to remove it.
Under the deck all around the inside of the cabin there are hundreds of stainless nuts & bolts. Some bolt the deck to the hull and some bolt the teak toe rail to the deck. It would be difficult if not impossible to determine which are which so I decided that we should remove all of the stainless nuts in the cabin, remove the toe rail with the bolts still attached and re-fasten the remainder of the bolts.
I decided to purchase a small right angle pneumatic ratchet with a 7/16ths deep socket attached. My son Scott was more than happy to try out the new tool and cranked them off in record time. There were a few bolts that wouldn't come off or were impossible to get at which I had to cut off with a reciprocating saw.
Once all of the bolts where unattached we tried to carefully finesse the toe rail off with a screw driver and rubber mallet. The adhesive (I think they used 2100 back then) still held on tight 34 years later, the teak toe rail came of in many pieces.
Pneumatic ratchet, 7/16ths bolts under deck, Scott at work removing them, Anne cleaning and prepping the deck for painting with Comet cleanser and a 3M scrubby.
Removing the toe rail in many pieces.
I found a place in the Annapolis area that would supply teak wood and mill it to replace the toe rail. The cost for the lumber and mill work was very reasonable.
Exotic Lumber Inc. in Annapolis was extremely helpful in the selection of teak lumber for my new toe rail.
Finished toe rail
Exotic Lumber did a fantastic job milling the toe rail for the our Morgan.
I started installing the toe rail by first purchasing a Fuller countersink set that included plug cutters. I've found over the 3 plus years working on this boat that you really need to use the right tools for the job at hand. With the Fuller countersinks I was quickly able to bore out all of the holes on the toe rail and cut extra teak bungs with the plug cutters when I ran out of bungs I ordered online.
I dry fitted all of the toe rail cutting the counter sinks and drilling holes through the deck. I managed to save about 70% of the original 1/4-20 bolts, washers and nuts that where used to bolt down the factory installed toe rail. I cleaned them up using a bench grinder with a wire brush wheel last winter. Saving and cleaning much of the stainless steel hardware from the boat saved me at least $300.00 dollars.
Once everything was fitted to the deck I disassembled all of the toe rail, wiped down that part of the deck with denatured alcohol and started the re-assembling using 3M 4200 sealant running a generous bead along the deck and inside all of the newly drilled 1/4-20 holes.
I plugged all of the screw holes in the teak with teak bungs and used a wood chisel to top the heads then I lightly sanded the top of the entire rail. My wife Anne later masked off the edges and gave it six coats of Awlspar Varnish.
Using the old hatch boards I went back to Exotic lumber and had them mill a teak board 10 feet long the same thickness as the old hatch boards. I then purchased a new Avanti ultra fine crosscut saw blade and using my chop saw cut all of the pieces exactly as the original boards. Using a my old router and router bit I then proceeded to screw up two of the board sections and had to repeat the buying and milling process all over again at a cost of around $180.00. Wanting to keep the grain and wood pattern the same I cut all new pieces and this time using my brand new router table and router bit I routered the ends so that they all fitted tightly together
New hatch boards and guides.