[alberg30] Toe rail replacement

[Thomas Parks]

From: "Thomas Parks" <parks24 at hotmail.com>

Lee and all,
  Sorry to have taken so long to get back with you on the toe rail subject. 
Between school having started and trying to get a few last good sails in on 
Lake Michigan have been pretty busy. Anyway, here is the saga of 
"Tradewinds" toerails:

  When we purchased our Alberg in November of 1997 it did not have toe 
rails, they had been removed by the previous owner! I had no idea what they 
looked like, etc. Did a lot of research trying to find out info but most of 
the pictures I saw were of earlier boats with the molded decks. So I just 
took an educated guess at what they were and that's what was made!! I 
decided up front that this was not a job for me to tackle and started 
looking for someone to make and install them. Couldn't find anyone on this 
side of the lake that gave me answers I was comfortable with. After several 
e-mails with some folks in Maine who did this type of work I decided to have 
a carpenter up in Milwaukee do the job. Got an estimate on cost and went 
with it.
   Also decided to make them out of mahogany with the cost of teak being so 
high and out of our price range. We used 6/4 for the toe rails,31 feet long 
and 6 inches wide. Each piece was cut in half and cut to match the height of 
the bow(about 2 1/2 inches high). Sides are straight. I have two joints down 
the side, one at about 8 feet and another at 23 or so feet(one of the board 
we had bought was 16 feet long for the curving section of the side). The 
tafrail is three pieces of mahogany glued together to be one solid piece 
about four inches wide. It was cut from boards 12 inches wide I believe. 
Also cut three scuppers on each side and installed bronze chocks(2 front and 
2 rear).We had to install new tracks(there wer none), so put on 8 foot of 1 
1/4 inch Schafer track on each side. The toe rails are bolted on every 6 
inches(5/16 x 3 1/2), were counter sunk, and plugged.
    I did the finishing on them to save on the cost. Iput two coats of stain 
on them to match the color of teak and them covered them with 10 coats of 
Sikkens. I think they came out fantastic!!
    My cost from the yard for making the toe rails and installing them was 
$1924.00. According to the folks in Maine that was an excellent price and 
the carpenter said he would double the number of hours charged the next time 
he tackled such a job, which means around 50 hours of labor plus all the 
hours I put in sanding , staining, finishing, etc.
    Tools wise you will need all the tools  someone wrote in and mentioned 
plus more. I think the planer and the router were the most used tools of the 
bunch.
   I have the complete materials list but it doesn't include the tracks and 
the chocks which I purchased myself and furnished to them. Hopefully I have 
answered your questions but if I haven't feel free to ask any questions you 
have. I'll try to take some pictures before I cover the boat and send to 
anyone who likes if you let me know(I don't have a scanner).

Good Sailing,
Tom Parks
"Tradewinds"  #48

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