Damaged Toe Rail; HELP!!

[SkipperDJ]

A large wave passed through my marine and caused the outside lip of the toe rail of my boat (Nicholson 345) to catch under the neighbouring boat's toe rail. This resulted in a two foot length of toe rail being lifted, bent and a little twisted.

Does anyone know the best way to fix it?

I thought about having the section cut out, straightened and then, once bolted and glued back-in, welded to form one continuous length of toe rail again.

Suggestions?

http://fotolog.terra.com.br/boat

 

[tome]

I'd like to see a picture of the other side of the toe rail to see how it is fastened and distorted that side before giving advice.

It looks to me like it was your neighbours boat which caught under your toe rail. Yours has been lifted from the outside.

 

[jh001ace]

I would suggest that the only repair which will look ok is to replace the toe rail, you would have to remove it to cut out the damaged section anyway. Welding it when back in position?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[squidge]

Hi I am sorry to hear of your problem and even more sad to have to say that it cound be much more of a problem than you think.If the toe rail has lifted as you suggest to prevent furure problems it may well have to be removed ,replaced & refitted.Like other boats it will be bolted through where the hull and deck join, to get at the bolts a lot of the interior will need to be removed, not an easy task and could work out expensive.

Get an estimate from a boat yard and contact your insurance company.
Good luck

 

[SkipperDJ]

Thanks for the reply. I have sent another photo looking down on the inboard side of the toe rail. It shows how it is bolted down. The screws go down through the flange, and the nuts are all on the inside of the hull.

There is virtually no distortion on the inboard side.

The next door boat did not seem to suffer any damage. I'm thinking that the stauntion rolled heavily on to him and bent the outboard side of the toe rail up.

I am against pulling all the inside out to get at all the nuts to lift off the full length of the toe rail. The boat was built here in Brazil 18 years ago and there is no more supply of the same toe rail.

Here is the link to see the photos:

http://fotolog.terra.com.br/boat

Thanks

 

[SkipperDJ]

I was not thinking of removing the whole toe rail first. I was going to have the toe rail cut fore and aft of the damaged section. Unbolt that secion (easy to get to from the inside),take it to a sheet metal shop and have it straighten as best as possible. Then glue and bolt it back into position, and then maybe close up the cut with a small amount of aluminium welding.

Just my first possible solution.

 

[AndrewB]

Ouch! Key question is ... are you fully insured?

If so its one for the insurers to work out. You are entitled to have it made good to exactly the standard it was before - I can't see how that can be done without replacing the whole toe rail. Let the insurers and the boat yard worry about how they can do it to your satisfaction.

If not, you'll be looking for a repair that might not be quite as perfect looking as before, but will be just as strong and seaworthy. As you say, cutting out the damaged section, straightening it and rebedding sounds reasonable. Two points though. First, careful attention must be paid to the deck where the bolts have been wrenched. This must be repaired with care, particularly if the deck is laminated. Second, you won't be able to do an aluminium weld 'in situ' on a GRP deck. So either the rest of the rail will have to come off anyway to do this, or you will have to find some other joining method. A strong and simple method would be to bolt short tie bars on the inside, and epoxy filler to conceal the break.

 

[SkipperDJ]

Thanks for the reply.

I'm not insured.

Re welding option, the epoxy filler with aluminium powder (to approach a similar colour as the toe rail) would work. And the tie bar on the underside is something I had not thought of, and which is a really good idea to return to the original strength that an uncut toe rail would give.


Thanks for that!

 

[tome]

I was going to suggest a couple of tie bars also. My toe rail is similar, but in 2 sections and this is how they are joined. There is a short tie bar on the inside of the vertical part of the rail with 2 bolts through each section.

I'm sure that the damaged section could be carefully cut out and straightened whilst making good any damage to the deck underneath.