Toe rail, wet wood removal

[LuV dRuNk]

Hello
I am in the process of removing wet wood from between my toe rail
I am finding that just opening the top up and digging it out is not the way
Can i cut the inside toe rail off at deck level and remove and replace the wet wood ? then reset the inside toe rail and glass it back in ?
Other options welcome
Thank you

[Hudson Force]

Maybe this would be best answered with some more information:

1. Is this a balsa core, plywood or something else?
2. Does the wood core end at the deck or extend down as a cored hull?
3. Is the wet area limited to the area of the photo or extend further?
4. If you remove fasteners in places aft of what you've exposed, like under that
cleat in the photo, is the wood damp?
5. Are you aware of the original source of the water? ... cracks in the toe rail or
leaks at bedded hardware like stanchion bases.
6. Does the deck have a wood core?

You fix depends upon the extent of the water damage, 'tell us more.

[psk125]

Looks like you almost have a bulwark there, not just a toerail. It would seem that the deck was made on purpose to have the upward flange and wood filler piece mate with the outer edge of the topsides to create a structural girder out of the whole thing. Cutting off the inside layer of the “toerail”- the flange- could destroy the integrity of this beam - as could removing too much of the the now wet filler at once. Either way you would be removing something that currently holds the deck in place. The flange also acts like the lid to a shoe box to stiffen the deck. Rebuilding the flange would have to be done really carefully to ensure the full strength of the original build was maintained. A too-weak replacement would quickly crack and start to leak along its length. Unless you are quite certain about your fiberglass laminating skills, attacking from the top, though onerous, may be the best approach. Have you tried (carefully) running a Skilsaw or Sawzall in the slot? Again, not removing too much at once, so nothing moves on you. Hudson is also right - more information would help us provide better answers.

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, LuV dRuNk.

[Bill O]

Agree it would be nice to have more info on the type of boat and how extensive the damage is to the wood inside the bulwarks. More photos are always helpful.
Can't tell that well from 1 photo, but it almost looks like the bulwark is an add on to the deck and the bottom of the bulwark stops w/the f/g deck. Once water was allowed to get into the wood layer it was trapped. Depending how the cap was made or how well the hawse hole was bedded, eventually they allowed water in, pool and rot the wood.
Would say the "correct" approach for a repair depends on what you find and how much work you want to do. Only made an assumption that the bulwark was mounted on the deck. Is this true and how is it mounted? Did the water penetrate into the deck core?
As discussed one way would be to dig out the rotted wood leaving the f/g bulwark sides intact. While taking more time initially to dig out wood, this could save you from doing extensive glass work and fairing compared to cutting away the inside wall.
Either way you do it you'll need to replace the core. Since the bulwark take a lot of abuse, something similar to the structure/strength/density of wood is better than a foam core used to lay up a hull (unless you can vacuum bag it). My choice would be a HDU board of moderate density. Depending on the material chosen, it's the same strength as 3/4" ply, 1/3 the weight, doesn't absorb water and easily tooled to fit in the slot. This would work very well if you dig out the wood, leaving the bulwark sides intact.
Everything "depends" on what you find.....


Bill O.

[LuV dRuNk]

Originally Posted by Hudson Force

Maybe this would be best answered with some more information:

1. Is this a balsa core, plywood or something else? :
2. Does the wood core end at the deck or extend down as a cored hull?
3. Is the wet area limited to the area of the photo or extend further?
4. If you remove fasteners in places aft of what you've exposed, like under that
cleat in the photo, is the wood damp?
5. Are you aware of the original source of the water? ... cracks in the toe rail or
leaks at bedded hardware like stanchion bases.
6. Does the deck have a wood core?

You fix depends upon the extent of the water damage, 'tell us more.

1.2. Plywood core ends at the deck
3.4. I believe the saturation is in the whole toe rail.
5. Stanchion base was leaking and toe rail cap/freeze thaw affect on the plywood.
6.Deck is wood core,once was teak

The inside toe rail is build on the deck and I will be glassing it back in place
after the new core is in.

I will not be putting the teak toe rail back on after I glass it. less holes in the toe rail the better. pics to follow

[LuV dRuNk]

Latest pictures of the toe rail project