leaking toe rail

[David Oosthuizen]

Hi All,

When I was out last year in choppy seas beating to weather, when the decks were getting spray on them for hours at a time (and water driven against the hull) I noticed water leaking inside the boat in the salon and vee berth along the inside of the hull.  It seemed quite clearly to me that the water was coming through under the toe rail.    I noticed that there was a bead of caulking along the edge of the toe rail that had dried up quite a bit and was falling out (the boat is stored on the hard in the desert).  

What are other peoples opinion as to whether I can reapply the external bead of caulking on the outside and inside of the toe rail (were the rail butts the deck and edge of the hull) to solve the issue... or is will this require removing the toe rail and resealing each screw hole and rebedding the rail?

Regards,

David.  

[geoff....@gmail.com]

Friends,

We too have chased hull deck leaks, including 'gouging' a small
channel between toe-rail & deck, and then applying polyether caulk.
All to very little success.

We found the following to be the problem: Stanchion bases. The
bases are typically with bolts through the flange and these bolts are
not properly sealed using fiber gaskets between all metal to metal
surfaces and a proper rubberised gasket between base and deck. Upon
removing the stanchions and refitting them with proper gaskets and
water proof washers, the leaks disappeared. Obviously, in our
case, the water was entering at one area , traveling until it found a
spot to exit.

geoff

[David Oosthuizen]

Carl et al,  

I did also receive this reply:

"it's my belief that when these boats were built, they knew very little about long term adhesive properties. The material in my toe rail has become soft over time, like hard peanut butter. Newer adhesives should be used. Whether you scrape out the old or reapply is your call. I have not had any leaks ..."

I will probably check the stanchions as  Jeff Suggested and as I can also easily apply caulking on each side of the toe rail (and I can see where the caulking has fallen out)  I will attempt these fixes first.  If that fails then toe rail will come off and I will re-bed  ...(likely the best method would be to not try save the old toerail - possibly I would use a saws-all to cut just above the deck line and then heat and scrapers to remove the remainder of the toe rail...then seal the existing holes with epoxy... redrill small pilot holes and use self taping screws to attach the new toe rails on new layer of adhesive bedding compound,

Cheers

David

On Fri, Mar 5, 2010 at 3:59 AM, <coz...@aol.com> wrote:

Hi David -

 

Many thanks for the link - as usual, the best advice is always what we really don't want to hear.

 

Best wishes and good sailing,

 

Carl

-----Original Message-----
From: David Oosthuizen <oost...@gmail.com>

To: coz...@aol.com
Sent: Thu, Mar 4, 2010 6:04 pm
Subject: Re: [cal46] leaking toe rail

Hi Carl

I did find this article on my own, which kind of recommends redoing properly

http://www.practical-sailor.com/newspics/charts/893deckleaks.pdf

Cheers

David

On Thu, Mar 4, 2010 at 2:49 PM, <coz...@aol.com> wrote:

Hi David -

 

I don't have an answer for you, but I would be interested in learning any good advice you receive since I have a similar problem.

 

Best regards,

 

Carl Hilton

Heritage II

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[SailFisher]

Hello David,

I too have had limited success recaulking as you describe. I have been
able to substantially slow the leaks, but even after rebedding the
stanchions we still have some water intrusion. I am of the opinion
that to do a proper job the toe rail must come off (and probably be
destroyed in the process). I am going to attempt to do the easier
fixes one more time, but only expect that this will mitigate, not
solve the problem.

Al Briggs,
Sailfisher

[Steve Brown]

Finco just bought 600 board feet of teak out fall, in 14' lengths roughly
measures 2" by 1 3/4 usable some a little wider, we can rip and shape the
exact profile for your 46 for less than you can buy the teak.

Steve

714 973 2878

Hello David,

Al Briggs,
Sailfisher

--

[relaxinonboard]

I had the toe rail removed on Twisted Journey. Taku Marine in Port
Townsend did the work, I helped as an assistant. It can be removed
without significant damage. Go slow! Use lots of wedges from both
the inboard and outboard sides. The hull deck joint is unlikely to
leak in my opinion. The hull is an inward flange with the deck
screwed onto that. The hull deck joint is glassed over on the
inside. The "caulking" on the outside of the joint is an epoxy, or
similar compound, that was put on as a filler from the edge of the
deck to the edge of the hull. This gave a smoothe surface to attach
the toe rail to. The epoxy filler did not adhere well at the joint.
I too had chunks break off while removing the toe rail. Since the
deck is screwed there are no penetrations except at the stanchion
bases and the jib track which is thru bolted. Some of the screws
holding the toerail down may have penetrated thru the joint. Make
sure all the bungs are in place.

A simpler way to discover if it is leaking at the toe rail is to put a
bead of caulking along the inside of the toerail and the outside.
Then soak it throughly, if no leaks then you have found it. If it
still leaks it then it is something else. I have found the windows
and stanchion bases are much more prone to leaking, condensation has
also formed profulsly at the joint. Without any coring to function as
insulation the hull deck joint is much colder. Another way to help
identify leaks is to put some baking powder sprinkled around the
suspected area. When water washing across it will wash away the
powder leaving a distinct trail of where the water is coming from.

Good luck

andy

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