Teak V-groove of death

[S/V AMITY]

  Since we're not going in this season, summer 2020 has been budgeted to get everything done on the boat which would have taken 2 or 3 winter units to complete here in the Northeast.

  The teak cap rail was on the list.  It likely hadn't been touched for 10 years by P.O. and looked disgraceful. The V-grove was a problem.  It was 3/4 filled with a mix of Cetol (which is a horrible brew), teak oil layers, varnish, dirt & God knows what else.  Since I'm an originalist, restoring the groove was a gotta-do.  After mixed results with a carbide scraper, I turned to one of man's oldest tools... fire.

  The Bernz-o-Matic, at 12"-14"waved over the grove for 20 seconds softened the goop enough so that removal with a putty knife was enjoyable.  I did this before any sanding of the cap since freshly sanded teak can/will darken slightly with a miscalculation of torch technique.  After goop removal, grove was sanded with folded 80 grit.  Looks good.

  Once the cap was sanded & prettied-up, a coat of Awlwood primer was laid on to hold it.  Over the summer will build ~8 coats of gloss Awlwood topped with semi-gloss.  Before the finish goes on, the cap has a good number of screws that need re-setting & re-bunging.  Cheers1

[SVJourney]

I never liked that groove.  I came very close to just filling it in with thickened epoxy while the rail was stripped. It woulda looked poor but to me, it is just a potential leak point and a place where gunk can collect.

[S/V AMITY]

  The groove was a manufacturing necessity & convenience.  Firstly, it allowed them to more easily torture narrower pieces of teak into following the shape of the cap plus (added benefit!) more or less hid any gap between the toe rail cap pieces.  Easy maintenance by the happy owner was not on the list.  That goes for the engine/galley cabinetry situation as well.

[Jordan]

What would be the ideal replacement for that thing? I was planning on pulling it up and reseating each screw. Don't know much about Hull deck joints, as far as the best way to do things.

[S/V AMITY]

The teak cap rail is just orniment... a throwback to all wood hull construction.  It also hides the screws which attach the deck to the hull.

[SVJourney]

If you rip it off then fiberglass the entire hull to deck joint.  LOL, just a small job!  See Dan/Kika's Vlog in Guatamala for how to's.

[P69]

If you're going to remove the teak and fiberglass, throw in a few through bolts, then seal it off.
http://bodylens.com/Gallery/thumbnails.php?album=33

[S/V AMITY]

  Before ripping things apart remember that putting it back together will conservatively take 3 times longer than you think and will cost more than you think... way more.

[Dale Tanski]

Amen
Dale

[SVJourney]

In order:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6hR8jYucw0&list=PLx_mGFQfb39Fgg10hfOO1IlieMtP2Hl94&index=49&t=0s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwqIy1RXh8w&list=PLx_mGFQfb39Fgg10hfOO1IlieMtP2Hl94&index=49

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOvbkQ2tdXw&list=PLx_mGFQfb39Fgg10hfOO1IlieMtP2Hl94&index=50

[Jordan]

  Before ripping things apart remember that putting it back together will conservatively take 3 times longer than you think and will cost more than you think... way more.

I feel like I'm getting really good at remembering that about 5 minutes after I fully commit.

In order:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6hR8jYucw0&list=PLx_mGFQfb39Fgg10hfOO1IlieMtP2Hl94&index=49&t=0s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwqIy1RXh8w&list=PLx_mGFQfb39Fgg10hfOO1IlieMtP2Hl94&index=49

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOvbkQ2tdXw&list=PLx_mGFQfb39Fgg10hfOO1IlieMtP2Hl94&index=50

His fiberglass work is one I've gone back to multiple times. Just this morning, I decided I was going to dig a little deeper into BoatWorksUS BoatWorksToday stuff on fiberglass too.

[S/V AMITY]

Also:   https://www.youtube.com/user/boatworkstoday/videos .

  Excellent info. on many aspects of boat repair.

[SVJourney]

I do watch a lot of Boatworks Today.  Andy is pretty good about teaching the ins and outs.

[S/V AMITY]

Sail Life too.  See:  https://www.youtube.com/user/madsdahlke

[S/V AMITY]

  Yesterday removed, re-countersunk, re-installed & bunged ~70 cap rail screws.  Set the bungs in varnish so they're removable if need be.