alternatives for teak toerail

[MM5AHO]

I have an (old) teak toerail with a seperate teak side rub rail. The teak is about 50x12mm top cap and the rub rail about 100x10mm.
It's a bit worn and now doesn't match the new awlgrip surface on the grp.
What alternatives are there or should I just use teak again?

 

[sarabande]

Avoiding the controversy over teak, iroko, mahogany and the HSE dust problems and maintenance issues....


What about composite wood ?

Easy to engineer to shape, and to fix, consistent colour if you have to replace a part, resists salt and sunshine, and termites Doesn't fade over time, no annual treatments....

https://www.filcris.co.uk/category/boards-posts-and-sheets


OK, so it's not 'boaty natural' but neither is steel, aluminium, or GRP.

 

[Tranona]

Iroko is typically half the price of teak and almost as good. However, it is a massive job to replace the toe rail and rubbing strake. Although you can't do much about the wear, you can get the wood back to looking reasonably good and then protecting it with a coat of tinted porous woodstain for a fraction of the cost of replacement.

 

[Malish]

Flexiteak?

See: https://www.flexiteek.com/flexiteek-trims/

No personal experience, about the same price for the material as teak but easier to fit and negligible maitenance according to a fellow Rival owner.

 

[Quandary]

Our boat has 'flexiteek' in the cockpit, can't imagine why anyone would think it looks like wood, though from the excrement colour, I suspect that is what they intended.
My preference would be teak rather than something that so pathetically fails to look like it.

 

[Cockaigne]

Plastic handrail section offers a longlasting, maintenance-free solution.

http://www.wbrightonhandrails.com/specifications.shtml

 

[Deleted member 36384]

Fantastic description Quandary!

Geoff, it all comes off quite easily and you can use the old stuff as templates. It also gives you the opportunity to inspect the gunwale hull/deck join and make good any issues.

A&R Way did mine, as I have nether the skill or the time. I am glad it was done just for the hull joint inspection alone. A winter job that is doable for moderately skilled folks with the right tools.

Teak restorers are also great and can make worn out, drab grey, teak look great again.

My advice is to clean up and apply an appropriate surface finish to maintain the teak colour. Sail the rest of the season and then decide.

 

[Fr J Hackett]

Depending on the length and curvature of the hull you might get away with one perhaps two scarf joints or you may have to steam some of the more bendy bits. 50 * 12 is a rather wide narrow section to bend easily. At a guess if you fix a long lath at the bow you will be able to gradually bend it to around midship then scarf joint and repeat from the stern to overlap.
As Boots says it is an opportunity to inspect the hull to deck join particularly if it is the biscuit tin lid type and check or replace the filler.
What you will need is a good saw and the moderate skill to cut the scarf, a plug and hole cutter and drill plus lots of clamps. A bedding compound and elastic filler for the joint.