Saving My Toerail- Advice?

[four winds]

I suffer from OTS, oversanded toerail syndrom. It's an inherited condition from a previous owner. Apparently the wide flat rail was just too tempting not to go after it hard with a palm sander. Sanded down to the screwheads is the symptom being resolved.

The section pictured suffers most as it was a coarse grain board. It is the thinnest section of all the rail. I've rebunged a few dozen spots by removing the screws and redrilling a bit deeper and installed new bungs. Working out good, all but one spot where the screw was left out and a new bung only inserted.

My quandary involves the more close-up pic. What could be the best way to repair the area around the screw hole pictured?

Maybe I shouldn't say "best" way. Replacing a section of rail is not an option I can persue at this time. Living at anchor, using hand tools, drill and dremel, and a budget low in the extreme.

The goal is to halt the progress towards entropy, and the boat looking a little better.

Any advice?

[bad.wabbit]

Looks like the screw head took out some of the rail? Were you able to save the splinters? Those could be glued back in. Else you could gently chisel out a rectangular shape - a carpet knife would work, too - and add back a piece of wood. Else maybe use the copious saw dust you created as a filler.

[four winds]

Not taken out by the screwhead in this case. However, even being careful that did occur a couple of times earlier with small chips that I glued back before drilling.

In this spot the coarse grain had split and splintered years ago. Thus accelerating rot in the area and I found silicone holding the rotten pieces together. No choice but to remove it back to better wood it seemed.

You have mentioned the two things that came to my mind.

I do have a couple of small spots elsewhere that glue and teak chips/dust will work easily. And I considered it may be best here though it's a large spot.

And I do have some small teak scrap from which patch of sorts could be fashioned.

Thought it best to ponder this a day or two and ask here for others experience.

Thanks for your reply.

[jeepbluetj]

Carpenters would call the solution a 'dutchman'.

Basically cut a piece of the same wood to be a patch, cut out the wood in the toerail to fit the patch into. Glue away. Generally the patch is kind of hourglass shaped so that it becomes somewhat structural/visually interesting.

[four winds]

The rail is two piece. One along the top of the hullside. And another that is on top overlapping the deck and the hull piece.

The area missing is top piece only. If the area were clean the deck would be visible I think. And the seam between it and the outer hull teak strip.

It's not really that large a spot. But I'm undecided between filling or patching.



On edit,...... Maybe not missing down to the deck. Will clean and inspect after I eat a samich.

[four winds]

Jeep, thanks man. I do have a small piece of teak to make a patch from. But the idea of a little small square patch seemed wrong to me. Thanks for your input.

BTW, that rail is supposed to be a half inch thick, maybe five eights. Very tempting to use the banghead emo here.

[SV DestinyAscen]

I would consider cutting that offending part out and finish it - it'll look like a drain if you repeat on the other side.

[Cheechako]

Fill with epoxy, sand flush.

[SteveSails]

Epoxy and sawdust would be the easiest. Or cut out and patch with an interesting mark and tell people "this is the spot where ..." You make up the rest.

[ur2slo]

Originally Posted by SteveSails

Epoxy and sawdust would be the easiest. Or cut out and patch with an interesting mark and tell people "this is the spot where ..." You make up the rest.

LOL thats funny s**t..

best answer yet

[Three Sisters]

Another vote for sawdust + epoxy.

[four winds]

A new pic of the spot cleaned up. After looking at this rail under the genoa track it seems it was an inch thick originally. Now in this spot it's about a quarter and tapered to the edge.

Would an epoxy wood shaving patch be degraded by UV?

Also, I always wondered why the scarf joints had a wide gap. Hard to see here but the vertical edges were beveled back, such that when new only the top edge touched. So each time the rail was sanded the gap grew wider.

These gaps were filled more than once. I found what looked like an epoxy and wood filler and also silicone used as a filler. None of it was adhered to the wood. Came out easy. The epoxy, if it was epoxy, was brittle and crumbling. The silicone was attached to the fibreglass below only, and came out mostly in one piece. Should be relatively simply to cut a teak strip for these gaps and epoxy in place.

Still not sure about the other damaged spot.

[weavis]

LOL

My medical background and absence of reading glasses made me read this as "Saving my Toenail-Advice?"

[four winds]

Ha! Sometimes no glasses is a good thing. One can see the world as one wishes it to be. Instead of as it is.

[keepondancin]

I would certainly not use epoxy and sawdust, it would just make a big "splotch" that you will regret. As others had said, cut out an area and put in a "dutchman". You can either make a plug first, then cut out the repair to match, or cut out the repair, and fit a block in. I would do the latter. or ease of doing it. I would also make it rectangular for ease of doing it. I have done it on my boats, and for others. Just worry about the outline of the cut out and fitting the piece in. Leave it proud, (high), and sand flush. You can glue it in with Titebond III glue. Wipe the raw wood with acetone to remove oils from the teak before gluing. If a good fit, sand and contour after the glue dries. If it is a little off, sand it while the glue is wet, and the sawdust becomes "pixie dust", and blends in with the wood. The scarf joint could probably be filled the same way, It doesn't look like it had been filled with a sealant like they do with production boats theses days. Doesn't matter if your boat is 4 years old or 40, there is still pride in ownership.