Toe rail maintenance/improvements

[ambianceack]

We have a wooden toerail that surrounds the deck of our 1979 Sabre. I think the wood is teak. The wood is showing signs of age with some narrow cracks and some areas are soft. I also think we are getting small volumes of water into the cabin via some of the screws. To repair/restore/reseal the wooden toe rail is it considered good maintenance to either use Git Rot or West Syestem epoxy as a resealer? I would simply mix a batch of epoxy and brush on and let the epoxy soak into the wood. Probably completing a few coats of epoxy. Thanks in advance for any assistance!

[sailingfool]

Yikes, It's surprising that teak would get "soft", if there's splitting I would assume that it is not properly protected. Teak toerails are pretty rugged otheer than for heavy impact. What is on the teak now? Whetever finish is on the wood needs to be completely removed, and the teak cleaned, then you can start over. You need to have any bad wood replaced, a good yard can splice in replacement sections for good $$$. Anything with Gitrot will look like a hack job (as it would be...).

You don't want to put epoxy on external teak. The right finish for teak toerails is varnish, which is difficult to apply and eventually even harder to remove, which you need to do periodically, say 4-8 years depending on circumstances.

A valid alternative which I personally would use is Cetol. The pluses of Cetol are it can easily be touche dup, and it's easy to stripp when the day comes. The downside is a sharp eye will recognize you've cut a corner on your yacht. Search for rprior threads on teak, varnish and Cetol.

[ambianceack]

Thanks, I will look into the cetol and other options.

[camaraderie]

If you are getting water into the deck and cabin you need to remove all the screws and then the teak and re-bed it with a good bedding compound after insuring the water ingress has not resulted in any soft DECK CORE areas first. Assuming the teak is still solid...you can sand it down to bare would and then give it the Cetol or Varnish treatment (see other threads for choices!) before putting it back on as that is easiest. You'll also need to buy or make some new teak bungs to put in the screw holes once you have it all bolted back on to help keep the water out and provied a finished appearance.
If some sections of the teak are in too bad shape to use...any carpenter can fashion new pieces to scarf in place of the old sections you cut out at a 45 degree angle vertically.
Ditto on SF's advice...no git rot or epoxy EVER!!

[ambianceack]

Thanks for the advice!