All along we had planned to replace the old semi-rotted, stained, and just plain ugly toerail. We weren't sure exactly what we wanted the new rail to look like, however. One thing that had been in my mind was to put Spartan Marine bronze mid-rail cleat/chock castings. Although we ultimately decided not to use the chocks, we ended up building the new rail based on the profile required to fit those chocks. The first step was to mock up the rail based on the measurements in the Spartan catalog to see if the resulting rail was pleasing to us. The design called for a 90 degree angle inboard, with an 11 degree bevel on the outboard side.

Satisfied with the look of the rail, the next step was to mill the basic profile. We chose, like the rest of the woodwork, to use mahogany for the toerail. We had some 17-foot-long 5/4 mahogany boards delivered to the shop and after a marathon planing session I was able to mill out 4 lengths of toerail stock on the table saw.

Once the pieces were milled, the next step was to scarf the lengths together, giving me two 34-foot-long sections of toerail. After the epoxy cured, I sanded everything down and put on two sealer coats of varnish. Finally, I cut one end of each toerail to fit at the stem.

At this point I enlisted Tim's help and we wrestled the floppy things up onto the deck of the boat. We tied the stern end of the rail to backstay chainplate using a 3 foot piece of line just to keep the end from "winging" out while we fought with the forward end. Tim and I pulled the forward end in and he held it in place while I drilled, countersunk, and drove in a screw. We then proceeded aft with Tim pushing and pulling to get the rail in place while I drilled, countersunk, and drove a screw every 9 inches. When we were finished, several feet of rail were protruding past the end of the transom, but I hadn't decided exactly how I wanted to end the rail, so I just let them run wild.

We then repeated the process on the starboard side. I was thrilled with the way the new profile looked! Sadly, this was only a dry fit and now that we had gotten the whole thing installed, we had to take it back off so that we could install it permanently with 5200 as an adhesive and sealant.

I applied a heavy bead of mahogany-colored 5200 to the flat on deck where the toerail would be attached. We then wrestled the pieces back in place and I drove the screws home. This proceeded without notable incident, besides being unbelievably messy, with 5200 squeeze-out everywhere. After the 5200 cured I was able to install the 90 or so bungs to cover the screws.

Rubrail

With the toerail in place, I was able to turn my attention to the rubrail which in addition to giving the whole affair greater visual interest and bulk, was necessary to cover the hull deck joint. The rubrail I had in mind was little more than a small trapezoidal piece of wood with a slight rabbet to allow it it fit tightly against the hull. I ran a short test piece to determine the specifics of the cut angles, sizes, and order. I then milled several 8 foot sections. These were installed with screws and bedded in 5200. Once this was finished, I was able to get started on my varnish regime.

Taffrail

Over the course of the winter I had been pondering what to do with the taffrail. I didn't really want to just slap a solid block of wood back there and Tim suggested creating some sort of raised open design. After some thought and playing around with blue foam mock-ups, I decided to use three solid wood blocks to raise the taffrail up so that it sat on top of the toerail. I also decided that the blocks and toerail should continue the angle of the transom. This would allow the taffrail to actually sit slightly overhanging the stern.

I placed one block on the centerline, and centered the other blocks in the space between the center block and the toerails. (Note that the chainplate is attached to the side of the knee, and so is slightly off-center.) I also decided that the blocks looked "funny" lined up parallel to the center line, because of the angle of the toerail as it tapers toward the stern. Instead, I had each edge at a progressively larger angle. To figure this out, I first drew reference lines parallel to the center line. I then measured the angle of the toerail and drew a line at the centerline of the outer blocks which was half of the measured angle of the toerail. I then added 2 degrees to that measurement and drew a line at the location of the outboard edge of the block. I subtracted 2 degrees from that angle and drew a line at the location of the inboard edge of the block. This is much harder to describe than it was to do! Look at the reference lines in the photo, and it will probably make sense.

My original plan had called for simply bending a solid mahogany board into place over the blocks, but the camber of the deck in this location was much greater than it appeared and I actually broke the board trying to bend it into place. Instead I had to laminate the taffrail out of three 1/4 inch boards. The easiest way to do this was to actually laminate it in place, using the blocks and toerail as the form. I test bent the pieces first, before breaking out the epoxy. Everything seemed OK, so I dove in.

I covered the whole stern of the boat with heavy gauge plastic, got all of the available clamps lined up, and started mixing the epoxy. While messy, the procedure was actually pretty straightforward. I placed the stack of boards in place and drove a single screw through them and into the center block. I then drove screws throught the two ends into the toerail. With the taffrail thusly bent and pinned in place, I was able to use a multitude of clamps to tighten everything up as best as I could.

Once the epoxy cured I removed the clamps and removed the taffrail from the blocks. This was a bit of a challenge since the screws were epoxied in place and I promptly broke the heads off of two of the screws. Wit much swearing, drilling, grinding, and prying I was eventually able to remove the rail without damage.

I had previously made a template of the molded flat where the old taffrail was installed, as I wanted the new raised taffrail to be the same size and shape. I transfered the curves to the new taffrail then cut it out using a jigsaw with the blade angled to match the angle of the transom. I finished up the shaping using my DA sander withthe taffrail temporarily installed. Once I was happy with the shape, I applied several coats of varnish to the underside, then installed it with screws and epoxy. Click here for another view of the finished taffrail.

Seahood

Part of the plan for the exterior renovation was to replace the old painted fiberglass-over-plywood seahood with a nicely built and finished mahogany one. My design called for a mahogany plywood top framed with solid mahogany. This would be attached with epoxy and screws to the solid mahogany sides. Because the mahogany ply was only 3/8 thickness, and I anticipated occasionally standing on the hood, I laminated the mahogany ply to a similar thickness of birch ply for increased strength.

Rather than having a perfectly square-sided hood, I decided to carry the 11 degree angle used on the toerail throughout the other woodwork on deck. To this end, the sides of the the hood were at 90 degrees for about 1 inch, but then beveled inboard at 11 degrees. Additionally, I wanted to highlight the joinery somewhat, so I used a large box joint for the corners.

Once the hood was test fit and was sitting nicely on the curved coachroof, I was able to attach the top to the sides. After the epoxy dried, inserted mahogany bungs to cover the screws then planed and sanded everything smooth. I had been careful to leave the solid mahogany frame slightly proud of the plywood, as the veneer on these plys is notoriously thin. In this way I was able to plane the solid wood down to the height of the ply without worrying about planing or sanding through the veneer.

Once this was finished I was able to proceed with varnish. Even after just two coats the hood really gleamed! I installed it on deck with polysulfide sealant and fastened with screws up from inside the cabin.

Forward Hatch

The old forward hatch was just a plain raw fiberglass lid. We knew that we wanted to get rid of the old, and the price of a new lexan hatch by Bomar or Lewmar seemed a bit steep, so I decided to build my own.

The first step was to build a basic frame. I continued the angles and box joints that I used on the seahood with the frame pieces for the hatch. Once the frame was built I clamped it in place, leveled it athwartship, and scribed the deck camber onto the fore and aft frame pieces. I was then able to get a nice tight fit.

I then built a slightly smaller frame to fit on top, with a rabbet to sit over a wooden flange to give some measure of watertightness. For a lens we chose smoked grey acrylic, 3/8 inch thick. The acrylic arrived from the glass shop cut pefectly, but the edges were razor sharp, so I eased them with some sandpaper. I then predrilled the lens and installed it using massive amounts of butyl rubber sealant and pan head screws. The glass shop had warned me not to countersink, as an oval or flat head screw in a countersink could very easily be overtightened and break the lens.

The wood was finished with about 7 coats of varnish. I installed the frame on the boat using polysulfide sealant and screws up from the interior. I installed a pair of hinges and a Bomar hatch riser and the project was finished. We are thrilled with both the looks and function of the new hatch, as it lets a ton of light below—a great upgrade. Click here to see the hatch in the open position.

Companionway Trim

There is little to report about the new companionway trim. Basically I just replicated the old trim pieces with little modification and reinstalled them. I did take the time to countersink all of the screws and cover them with bungs however—something that wasn't done in the original installation. Once the various pieces were installed, I finished them off with 5 coats of gloss varnish.

Anchor Platform

We planned to build a replacement anchor platform to hold the rollers for our two primary cruising anchors—a CQR and a Bruce. The old platform was functional, but ugly, and wouldn't work with the new taller toerail. We decided to build a new platform of a design similar to that which Tim had used on Glissando. This was a simple but effective design. The platform was 11 inches wide by about 40 inches long and supported at the forward end by the toerail itself. At the after end I built some supporting feet.

I finished the platform with about 7 coats of varnish. It was installed using six bolts through the deck and a substantial bed of polysulfide sealant. The rollers and cleats were simply bolted through the platform itself, and backed with fender washers.

While this platform seemed beefy, it was actually destroyed in a May storm that brought 40 knot winds with strong wave action to our anchorage.