[Public-List] Portlights & toe rails.

Sat Oct 4 10:01:14 PDT 2014

Hello Wehicks, 

The deck camber seems daunting at first, but it turned out fairly simple to measure and scribe the angles onto new bulwarks/toe rail stock.  After I stripped off the old toe rails, I scribed a pencil mark on the deck joint every 12" from stem head to taff rail.  Then used a cheap carpenters protractor to measure the deck to hull angle at each station. The key here is to find a bevel/protractor, not sure of the correct name,  that has a swivel arm and a graduated arc on the backplate that allows you to measure degrees of angle over the edge of the deck/hull joint.  I found a cheap stainless one at Home Depot for 10 bucks or so....  

Once you pick up the deck arc at each station, lay out your measurements on a 30' loa plywood workbench.  Make a temp workbench out of saw horses and plywood, maybe 12" wide, with stations and measurements scribed right into the plywood.  This becomes your workbench for transferring the angle of the bevel onto the side of the new toe rails/bulwarks stock, and clamping stock upright for planning. Then cut the taper for the rail to whatever dimensions you like - I opted to create 4" tall bulwarks, tapering to 2 1/2" at the taff rail, and hand held power planer to bevel the bottom side of the stock to suit the deck angle.  

Practice cutting a bevelon a piece of 2x4 if you haven't used a hand planer before, then jump right in. It is actually quite easy.  

ALSO, VERY WORTHWHILE to buy a hand plane to dress up the final bevel and take out any highlights. With a 48" dry wall straightedge you can see any gaps and highlights in the bevel, and smooth out the planned surface to almost a true edge.  Surprising easy and effective. In fact the hand plane has turned out to be the best tool I've ever bought for wood working.  

I used 2"x8"x16' Sapele boards in lieu of teak because of cost.  Then capped the sapele with 5/8" thick teak cap rail. Scarfed the sapele amidships with a 14" joint held together with epoxy and thru bolts and wood screws.

The biggest challenge for me was planning a consistent bevel on the bottom of the stock, so that it laid true on the deck - without voids so that water could not seep in and leak below decks thru the bolt holes every 4". In the end, you want a 30' piece of wood stock with a true bevel the whole length.  When installing,  Bed everything well with Dolphinite bedding compound and thru bolt  with 1/4" stainless bolts.   In places where I did have highlights, e.g. An open seam between the deck and bulwark, I caulked the void with Cotten and filled with a seam sealer, just like caulking a wood boat.  Then oiled 7 coats and applied one coat of varnish for extra measure.  No leaks and the finish is holding up well now in its third season.

As an FYI, it's easier to plane down the bevel if you can do so next to the boat in a yard.  This enables you to easily fit the stock to check the deck camber.  I did everything off site and took finished product up to the boat, as it was in the water in my slip, and installed in from dock side.  Didn't fit it to the boat before hand, and had to make a few finish cuts on the dock.  Not idea, but it worked OK, mainly because I had a good pattern to work from with my stations scribed into the plywood workbench. 

A word about materials.  I filled the original bolt holes thru the deck with 5200, also filled some deck hull joint gaps with 5200.  then drilled new holes down through the bulwark, but Caulked the bolts in the new holes with Dolphinite bedding compound.  Had I to do this over, I would certainly now fill the deck joint gaps with structural fiberglass putty, and lay maybe three coats of FG mat and roving tape over the joint to waterproof it. Epoxy is needlessly expensive for this job, and offers no benefits over fiberglass resin that I can see. Also,  Do not use 5200 to bed the new wood stock.  5200 does not contain fungicide, so has no rot resisting properties.  Plus it doesn't last long when exposed to moisture and repeated annual wood swelling, so may cause problems in a few years. Resulting in leaks, and you getting to do the job over again with a bunch of permanent adhesive in places you don't want it to be.  Dolphinite will last 30 + years in this application, is completely reliable under all weather conditions, is superb for inhibiting leaks and rot formation between the wood and deck, and gives up the wood if you ever want to take it off or make repairs.  

I opted to go with bulwarks and cap rail because I've always liked the idea of bulwarks, and it is the same amount or work as toe rails,  so figured - why not! 

The job is completely doable.  Just takes a few steps.  Good luck. You will enjoy the outcome!

Regards,
Glenn Brooks
dolce 318

Sent from my iPad

> On Oct 3, 2014, at 8:21 PM, Wehicks via Public-List <public-list at lists.alberg30.org> wrote:
> 
> I also need help with my toe rail. Mine rotted and I didn't realized that it was going to be as difficult to fit this account being a compound angle. Any help would  be great.  Pictures of how to please. 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone
> 
>> On Oct 3, 2014, at 5:24 PM, Jeffrey via Public-List <public-list at lists.alberg30.org> wrote:
>> 
>> Glenn,
>> 
>> Would you have any pictures of your bulwarks?  That sounds like an
>> interesting project. What species of wood did you use?
>> 
>> jeff
>> 
>> Seagrass. #116
>> Boothbay Harbor, Maine
>> http://sailboatseagrass.com/
>> 
>> <http://instagram.com/jfongemie>
>> 
>> On Fri, Oct 3, 2014 at 6:13 PM, Glenn via Public-List <
>> public-list at lists.alberg30.org> wrote:
>> 
>>> Greg
>>> Are you asking about the actual window material?  If so, I replaced
>>> everything on Dolce with polycarbonate, same thickness as the cabin sides,
>>> bedded all around with Dolphinite.  Maybe 1/4" or 5/16" can't remember. But
>>> make it the same thickness as the cabin wall.
>>> 
>>> I replaced my toe rails with 4" bulwarks capped with teak a couple of
>>> years ago.  I like the extra foot hold and security whilst walking along
>>> the deck.  The deck is cambered so the bottom of the rail or bulwark needs
>>> to be planed on an angle   to sit upright when bolted back down.  I lifted
>>> angles of the deck camber every foot then laid out the pattern on a 30' loa
>>> strip of plywood mounted on saw horses.  That became my workbench to shape
>>> the bulwarks.  Toe rails could be done the same, then rounded to shape on
>>> top with a hand held power planner.
>>> 
>>> Alternatively Most marine suppliers can order aluminum toe rail.  You
>>> would need to figure out the transitions with the raised wooden piece at
>>> the stem head and wood taff rail, and some minor deck molding where cut
>>> waters exist in the toerail.
>>> 
>>> Glenn Brooks
>>> Dolce 318
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> Sent from my iPhone
>>> 
>>>>> On Oct 3, 2014, at 2:14 PM, Greg Dawson via Public-List <
>>>> public-list at lists.alberg30.org> wrote:
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> Hi there.
>>>> 
>>>> Has anyone replaced their portlights? What material did you use and how
>>> thick was it?
>>>> 
>>>> Also, has anyone replaced their toe rails? the wood work on my 1968
>>> Alberg isn't great and I am thinking of changing to Aluminium rails. Does
>>> anyone know of a good supplier or have any advice please.
>>>> 
>>>> Greg,
>>>> 
>>>> Good hope #348
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>> 
>> 
>> 
>> -- 
>> ______________
>> 
>> Jeffrey Fongemie
>> 
>> <http://instagram.com/jfongemie>
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