toe rail on a sailboat

Privacy Guaranteed - your email is never shared with anyone, opt out any time.

~ Back to Sailboat Hardware Main Page ~

• Sails & Canvas
• Hull & Structure
• Maintenance
• Sailing Stories
• Sailing Tips
• Boat Reviews
• Book Reviews
• The Dogwatch

Select Page

A New Toe Rail For an Old Warhorse

Posted by Hugh Owens | Hull & Structure , Projects

Beefing up a retired racer with aluminum

My mate, Karlene, and I looked long and hard for a sailboat suitable for world cruising that we could afford. I’ve become convinced that boat speed is an important component of voyaging safety, so a major goal in our search was to find a good old fast boat! In Tampa, Fla., we found a neglected Cal 48 yawl.

This boat had been raced hard and put away wet for too many years, and Karlene and I had our doubts as we motored out into Tampa Bay for our sea trials. We hoisted the baggy, tattered, but fully battened, main in a warm, 13-knot breeze, and off she skipped at 7 knots. We unfurled the jib and were stunned as she heeled gently and roared off at more than 9 knots. What fun! Concealing our excitement, we made an appropriate offer that eventually was accepted. In time, our Cal 48, renamed Koho, landed in Pocatello, Idaho, where we started the refit.

If you examine enough old classic plastic, you will find recurrent flaws and problems that span a range of manufacturers. Our Cal 48 was no different. She was plagued with stanchion and hull-to-deck leaks, as well as untabbed and broken bulkheads, which are especially prevalent in older racers like Koho. Nevertheless, we felt that our time and money would be better spent restoring a swift, old, racing sailboat than a slower, more traditional, cruiser. We hoped the payoff would be in sparkling noon-to-noon runs. The refit of Koho has been total, but I’d like to focus on the structural solutions changes that we made to the toerail and hull-to-deck joint.

Sealed holes

We stripped every piece of hardware off the hull and deck and sealed all the holes with epoxy. Nevertheless, steady rains revealed persistent leaks from one end of the boat to the other that were coming from the toerail. Our toerail was an attractive piece of teak, 1 1/4 inches by 2 1/2 inches, laid on edge and secured every 4 to 6 inches with 5/16-inch stainless steel machine screws covered with teak bungs. The teak toerail also covered the hull-to-deck lap joint. A first-generation mystery sealant bedded the joint.

Near the cockpit, a genoa track was bolted to the top of the toerail and secured by nuts and washers below deck. Under the genoa track, virtually every bolt leaked because of the substantial loads on the track from the huge sail. Reluctantly we took the Sawzall to our beautiful toerail. We made attempts to save the 4-inch stainless steel bolts, but most of them were severely corroded in the anoxic environment of the leaky toerail. We then lifted the deck off the hull, using dozens of wedges. Most of the bulkheads released the deck with minimal fuss.

Once the joint was free and the deck was lifted up a few inches, we could clean and blow out the gap and apply 3M 5200 marine adhesive sealant, rebolt the hull to the deck, and reattach the bulkheads with multiple layers of biaxial cloth and epoxy resin on both sides of the bulkhead. Critical, highly stressed bulkheads – such as the main bulkhead near the cap shrouds and the ones under the lowers – were given additional layers of fiberglass and epoxy.

Some of the brackets used

Overkill, perhaps

On the main bulkhead, a laminated deckbeam was epoxied and bolted to the upper face of the bulkhead and epoxied to the underside of the deck. Stainless steel carriage bolts from the top of the deck were then fastened through this laminated beam. Strong? You betcha! Overkill? Perhaps, but I used this technique on a 39-foot boat I built some years ago. During a bad blow that boat was thrown sideways off a large wave and landed with a shattering crash on her port side and sustained no structural damage. The only downside to this technique is the time it takes.

Clamping up prior to final mounting

The critical bulkheads also received additional aluminum angle reinforcement where they contacted the hull/deck joint, and bolts with backing plates and/or washers were placed around the perimeter of the bulkhead to mechanically reinforce the joint.

We next turned our attention to strengthening and sealing the hull-to-deck joint. The upper hull and decks on these Cals are thinly constructed, in keeping with their racing heritage. We concluded that the only feasible fix was to fiberglass the joint from the outside. To do this, the watertight but rough-appearing hull/deck joint was faired with filled epoxy and sanded, then multiple overlapping layers of biaxial cloth and mat were laid over the hull and deck joint to a thickness of nearly a quarter-inch. More fairing, compounding, and sanding was done to ease the transition between old and new glass.

Prohibitive cost

The next task was to design and build a new toerail. We looked at many options. Commercial aluminum toerail was feasible but the cost was prohibitive and what about all those holes every few inches in our now watertight deck? Hal and Margaret Roth, on Whisper, used a clever method detailed in their book After 50,000 Miles. They brazed Everdur (silicon bronze) plates to the outside of the stanchion bases and then attached a 1-inch by 4-inch teak toerail outside the stanchions to the Everdur plates. They raised the teak 3/4 inch off the deck for water drainage. This seemed like a good idea. Reapplying a wood toerail or bulwark remained an option, but I wanted to avoid the leaks and maintenance associated with wood.

Years ago I worked on commercial salmon boats in Alaska. I remembered how the aluminum gillnetters used 1/2-inch by 2-inch flat bar stock as a toerail. It was welded edge-up to an angle extrusion at the deck edge to stiffen that vulnerable area from impacts with tenders and rough docks. I have long believed that aluminum is the best material for cruising boats, but we were unable to find a suitable aluminum boat that we could afford, and I began to wonder if aluminum and fiberglass could be married during Koho’s refit, thereby gaining the advantages of both materials.

We considered having aluminum angle bent to match the outside curve of our hull and deck. We had different angle extrusions bent at a local fabrication shop, but the differing and constantly changing angles of the hull and deck made this idea unworkable. We rejected welding as well.

Screwed and bolted

Eventually we settled on overlapping flat bar stock screwed and bolted together. In some areas, the aluminum was prepped and epoxied together, but the bulk of the construction used 3M 5200, 1/4-inch screws, and stainless steel bolts attaching the plates to each other and to the hull. The most useful and crucial part of the design is the 1/2-inch by 2-inch flat bar stock that becomes the toerail. The sections are 12 feet long with 1/8-inch gaps on the ends for expansion in the severe climatic changes we experience in the Rockies. The toerail is stiffened at the joints where these flat bar sections meet with brackets made from 1/4-inch aluminum angle, bandsawed and sanded to a pleasing shape, and bolted to the toerail and deck using oversized holes.

Holes are drilled in this flatbar in key areas in a manner similar to the commercially available perforated aluminum toerail. The toerail is supported at about 3-foot intervals by the support brackets. Every other support bracket has a stanchion base. Bolts fasten through the stanchion base, toerail bracket, and the deck to aluminum backing plates beneath. Once bolted or tapped and fastened together with machine screws and 5200, the whole assembly is astonishingly stiff and robust.

After installing the toerail, we attached a 1/4-inch by 4-inch aluminum plate to the hull so that it fit directly under the toerail and in contact with it. This served to cover the fiberglass overlap and strengthen the joint. We called this piece the “hull plate.”

Rigid structure

A final 1/4-inch by 2-inch flat plate was tapped and screwed to the toerail above and the 1/4-inch by 4-inch hull plate below. This effectively joined the toerail to the hull plate, making a very rigid structure that could not have been cold formed in place if it had been a single piece.

A 3/4-inch by 2-inch section of white UHMW (ultra-high molecular weight) polyethylene was fastened with flat-head machine screws into tapped holes in this bar to form a rubbing strake.

Tapping the aluminum allows replacement or repair of the UHMW in the future. I considered wood, aluminum, and PVC. We felt that UHMW offered a durable material that was a more friendly surface against the tender topsides of fellow yachties. I have high regard for UHMW. I’ve used it wherever friction needs to be reduced. For example, I lined a chute with UHMW to feed our anchor chain into the chain locker. The anchor chain glides into the locker as if sliding on Teflon. We also used it in front of our deck cleats in lieu of deck chocks to reduce chafe on the lines.

The aluminum bar stock and extruded angles that I used were alloy 6061, which is the normally available alloy for extrusions. This 6061 is commonly used in aluminum yacht and workboat construction, but it is best used in above-water applications. It has less corrosion resistance than the true saltwater alloys such as the 5000 series. We plan to paint the aluminum for the sake of an improved appearance.

Plastic spacers

We took great care to make sure no copper containing alloys came in contact with the aluminum. Our stanchion bases are made of either bronze or 316 stainless steel. They were made locally and they have a thin plastic (UHMW) spacer isolating the stanchion bases from the aluminum bracket beneath. The aluminum was painted with epoxy and linear polyurethane paint, and while that is probably sufficient isolation from stainless, it’s not that much more work to put in a little polyethylene spacer. We attached the genoa track to a 2-inch by 2-inch by 1/4-inch length of aluminum angle bolted to the inside of our aluminum toerail. This tactic alone saved almost 100 holes through the deck. The aluminum angle was bent using a plywood template by a local steel shop to conform exactly to the curvature of the deck. The track angle is braced additionally every 4 feet with aluminum angle bolted to the deck and glued with 5200. The finished track seems sturdy and superior to what it replaced.

In our most heavily loaded bulkheads I placed the toerail aluminum angle brackets over the interior structural bulkheads. Additional aluminum angle pieces were bolted to the bulkheads and fastened to the angle toerail brackets above to tie all these components together. The oversized deck cleats were bolted over the bulkheads to the aluminum angles below. This is considerably stronger than just using conventional backing plates.

The majority of vessels I’d examined weren’t husky enough to cope with the boisterous high-latitude offshore sailing conditions we expect Koho to encounter. I think that aluminum construction is superior to all other boatbuilding methods if you want to wed lightness and strength. My concept during this refit was to use this superb material to strengthen and stiffen an older fiberglass sailboat, utilizing one of the most abundant elements in the earth’s crust.

Article from Good Old Boat magazine, May/June 2001.

About The Author

Hugh, an anesthesiologist in Idaho, is completing a total refit of Koho, a 1966 Cal 48. He and his wife, Karlene, formerly lived and sailed in Alaska on their 40-foot home-built sailboat, Endurance. They are preparing Koho for a voyage to Antarctica and New Zealand.

Related Posts

Cockpit Umbrella

September 15, 2020

The Floating Tool Tray

November 13, 2019

Water by Gravity

January 1, 2013

Big Beds On Small Boats

July 17, 2019

Current Edition

Join Our Mailing List

Get the best sailing news, boat project how-tos and more delivered to your inbox.

You have Successfully Subscribed!

Custom Teak Boat Toe Rail Replacements

SYNTHETIC TEAK BOAT TOE RAILS

Weight: Varies Part #: M-TRTOERL

• toe-cap-replacement-custom
• plasteak-custom-toe-rail
• custom-boat-toe-rail-replacement

Product Information

Take off that old rotten teak!

Many boats have toe rails that are special in one way or another and we can match your exact specs. If you don’t have existing toe rails, we can start from scratch.

The warm look of teak adds charm and a classic look to any boat. Yours can be beautiful ALL of the time without the work. The next time you have them off, send them in for duplication and be done with maintaining them.

Custom PlasTEAK Installation Guide

Purchase Direct

This item is only available by contacting PlasDECK. Call us at 330-668-2587 or email us .

Select a Language

• Create account

Taco Rub Rail

Made from premium aluminum alloys and a clear satin anodized finish, our TACO Marine Sailboat Toe Rail mounts along the edge of the deck and is designed to attach lines and hardware.

Features and Benefits

• 1-1/4- x 5/8-inch slots for attachments
• Slot spacing on 10-inch centers
• Drilled and countersunk for #8 screws on 4-inch centers
• 20 feet, 10-3/4 inches (250.75 inches) long
• Polished, Clear Anodized finish
• choosing a selection results in a full page refresh
• Opens in a new window.
• Opens external website in a new window.

• Log in or register

Products tagged with 'sailboat toe rail'

Follow us on instagram @tacomarine, subscribe to our newsletter.

National News | Bodies of 2 men missing since Old Saybrook boat…

Share this:.

• Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on X (Opens in new window)

Daily News e-Edition

Evening e-Edition

• E-Newspaper

National News

• Puzzles & Games

National News | Bodies of 2 men missing since Old Saybrook boat crash pulled from Connecticut River

Officers with the state environmental conservation police discovered the first body shortly after noon on Friday in the mouth of the Connecticut River — between Old Saybrook and Old Lyme — about a quarter-mile from the site of the accident,   Environmental Conservation Police Capt. Keith Williams said.

Crews found the second body a few hours later, around 4:30 p.m., the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection confirmed.

Neither man’s identity was immediately released nor were their causes of death , which will be determined by the Connecticut Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. No other details were provided.

The crash happened in Old Saybrook on Monday night around 9:15 p.m.

According to DEEP, a 31-foot boat carrying nine friends home from a day-trip to  Block Island slammed into a jetty by an Old Saybrook marina, near where the Connecticut river flows into Long Island Sound.

When first responders arrived on the scene, they found the single-engine motorboat stuck and half-submerged in water at the mouth of the river.

In the immediate aftermath of the crash, first responders rescued six people from the water, all of whom were hospitalized. While they mostly suffered minor injuries, Williams on Tuesday said one person had been listed in critical condition.

Crews also pulled the body of 34-year-old Christopher Hallahan from the partially sunken vessel late Monday night, officials said.

The medical examiner determined Hallahan drowned and has since ruled his death an accident.

The search for the other two missing passengers dragged on for days after the crash and involved multiple agencies, including police and fire crews from several nearby towns, the State Police Dive Unit, and a helicopter from the U.S. Coast Guard station on Cape Cod

With News Wire Services

More in National News

National News | Today in History: September 8, Ford pardons Nixon

Multiple people shot along Kentucky interstate, manhunt on for suspect

National News | Boy, 2, fatally stabbed by 6-year-old brother in Chicago-area home: police

National News | Maryland teen arrested in fatal shooting of student in high school bathroom

• Forums New posts Unanswered threads Register Top Posts Email
• What's new New posts New Posts (legacy) Latest activity New media
• Media New media New comments
• Boat Info Downloads Weekly Quiz Topic FAQ 10000boatnames.com
• Classifieds Sell Your Boat Used Gear for Sale
• Parts General Marine Parts Hunter Beneteau Catalina MacGregor Oday
• Help Terms of Use Monday Mail Subscribe Monday Mail Unsubscribe

Cleats for perforated toe rail

• Thread starter SFS
• Start date Oct 26, 2015
• Forums for All Owners
• Ask All Sailors

My H31 has a very nice perforated toe rail, and I really want some mid-ship cleats. Has anyone found a cleat that mounts to a perforated toe rail? My searching has only yielded this one, and it looks pretty flimsy: http://www.defender.com/product3.jsp?path=-1|2259971|2709020&id=80333 I'd like to find something more substantial, and would prefer to stay away from track mounted, unless I have no options.  

I had that cleat on my Hunter 25.5 and it's on my friends Tartan 31 that we race on Wednesday nights. Not flimsy, simple. It works well and is very easy to mount and use. I worry it will tear the toe rail off, not that it will fail.  

That is exactly the one I am looking at and I am thinking since it for the spring line it will do just fine it is mounted with a 3/8 bolt  

I had that same situation on my B323. I raft everyother weekend, so really needed that mid-ship cleat. I got 2 OEMs and bolted them to the deck. /// Otherwise, i've seen cleats thru-bolted to the toerail with a slab of wood on each side of the toerail for reinforcement. Another way would be to use one or two pieces of genoa track to sandwich the toerail in whatever length you think you'd be comfortable with. /// You could bolt a cleat vertically to a pice of wood, which would then be bolted horizontally to the toerail when needed.  

I've been using exactly that mid-ship cleat with my single-handed docking spring line for about four years now. Surprisingly sturdy. No problems. However, I do not use it for my long term dock spring lines. They are attached to a mid- dock cleat and run forward to a bow cleat and aft to my genoa winch. The reason being that the fold down toe-rail cleat is attached with a single bolt and nut which does allow it to move (rotate) a bit on the toe-rail and I fear that back and forth movement of the boat could loosen the nut (even a lock nut) over time with long term docking. So, IMO: Great for short term use - coming into dock on a springlike or rafting up for an afternoon. Not the best choice for long term docking.  

I have those cleats on the toe rail of my B323. They are quite substantial. They have served me well for spring line attachment for a number of years. I really haven't had a problem with movement due to the boat surging. The toe rail itself is strong enough and because it is through bolted in several places along its length it helps to spread out the load. There is is a rubber spacer that folds over the top of the toe rail and extends over the bolt hole and that also dampens the shock load slightly.  

Years ago took an "L" 1/4 "steel brace, cut a piece around 5" long, inverted it and drilled some holes to attach to the inside of the rail on one side and drilled other holes to fit a cleat down on the other side. Smoothed the edges and painted it black for rust protection and to blend in with the rail. It was fit in an h27 right behind the starboard shrouds which afforded protection from stubbing the toes. Only needed one side. Survived a couple of hurricanes and plenty of foul weather being used for spring lines.  

Another option They make cleats that attach to genoa tracks. Ken  

The link below explains what I did when it came time to add midship cleats to our boat. That was over ten years ago and remain as strong as the original bow and stern cleats. http://hunter.sailboatowners.com/mods.php?task=article&mid=45&aid=7556&mn=42  

Terry Cox said: The link below explains what I did when it came time to add midship cleats to our boat. That was over ten years ago and remain as strong as the original bow and stern cleats. http://hunter.sailboatowners.com/mods.php?task=article&mid=45&aid=7556&mn=42 Click to expand

SFS said: My H31 has a very nice perforated toe rail, and I really want some mid-ship cleats. Has anyone found a cleat that mounts to a perforated toe rail? My searching has only yielded this one, and it looks pretty flimsy: http://www.defender.com/product3.jsp?path=-1|2259971|2709020&id=80333 I'd like to find something more substantial, and would prefer to stay away from track mounted, unless I have no options. Click to expand

Ken Cross said: Wow, nice installation. Did you need to treat the toe rail with alodyne or some other stuff to prevent corrosion ??? Click to expand

Awesome, thanks Ken  

Hi Ken, you are most welcome. Two long-time Everett sailors you may know, Bob Barker (still in Everett) and John Lund (moved to Anacortes). We meet every Wednesday evening at Scuttlebutts' for Skipper's night. Usually start during happy hour with open topics of interest. Come join us if you want. Always a hoot.  

Dave Groshong

That cleat is actually rugged, not flimsy, we offer it here as well: http://shop.sailboatowners.com/prod.php?54901  

Terry, that is great installation. On either side of the cleat and into the toe rail you have what looks the the head of a stove bolt. What are they?  

wufibugs said: Terry, that is great installation. On either side of the cleat and into the toe rail you have what looks the the head of a stove bolt. What are they? Click to expand

Oh, OK. The H31 used countersunk flush mounted phillips head bolts.  

No idea why Hunter used different fasteners. Plenty strong though. And no idea why they built the boat without a midship cleat. As a solo sailor, near impossible without them. A breeze with them.  

• This site uses cookies to help personalise content, tailor your experience and to keep you logged in if you register. By continuing to use this site, you are consenting to our use of cookies. Accept Learn more…

VIDEO: Coast Guard rescues 2 after boat capsizes off Pass-a-Grille Beach

U.s. coast guard rescues boaters off pinellas coast.

Video from the U.S. Coast Guard shows crews rescuing a pair of boaters after their 26-foot boat capsized off the coast of Pass-a-Grille Beach.

ST. PETE BEACH, Fla. - Two boaters are back safely on land after a Coast Guard crew and deputies rescued them off the coast of Pinellas County , officials said.

The Pinellas County Sheriff's Office alerted the Coast Guard to a call about a capsized 26-foot boat shortly after noon Friday about 18 miles off Pass-a-Grille Beach, according to officials.

The Coast Guard said rescuers used a signal from a personal locator beacon to find the boaters, who are both adults, wearing life jackets.

Video shows crews lifting both boaters onto a helicopter before flying the pair to a boat ramp.

No injuries were reported.

STAY CONNECTED WITH FOX 13 TAMPA BAY:

• Download the FOX Local app  for your smart TV
• Download the FOX 13 News app  for breaking news alerts, latest headlines
• Download the SkyTower Radar  app
• Sign up for FOX 13’s daily newsletter