Fitting a teak rubbing strake

I did this on Avocet some years ago. If I was doing it again, I'd go for an 8 : 1 scarf rather than the 6 : 1 that I used. it all held together fine until some GIT (never found out who) bashed into the side of the boat right on one of the scarph joints and under the combination of the tension that it was under due to following the curve of the hull and the impact, it popped open. To this day, I've bever been able to re-glue it successfully and get it to stay put. Also, Avocet's rail was an angle section - about an inch at the top looking down on the boat, and about and inch-and-a-half looking at the side of the boat. Both legs, about half an inch thick. It's "ok" but I didn't acount for the twist due to the sheer (which is quite pronounced at the bow). I'm lucky in that our hull-to-deck joint is the old design where there's an upstand all the way round the boat to form scuppers, so the rail can be through-bolted above deck level without any danger of leaks into the cabin. Also, when I orderd the wood, I got 6 lengths of teak section, but they weren't a brilliant match.

All that said, if I was going it again, I'd go for the fake teak, I think.
 
Laminating could work but it would be hard to finish in situ as, in general, when you laminate you need to trim everything afterwards to get a good edge. It could be laminated in situ in such a way as to be removable for finish work. This would allow you to get the bends and the scarfs done very well with minimal fuss and using cheaper wood. You still need some way of clamping it and if through bolts are not an option then you can use a number of alternatives. You can use glass suction pads on the hul to create a fixing point for a clamp. You can create a 'whole boat' clamp by placing a bar or length of timber on either side of the hull. You attach the bottom side with string and then you place your workpiece in between it and the boat and apply pressure by tying the top sides together. Another method is to have something next to the boat the clamp off.

If gluing and screwing it is sometimes better to drill out the holes to oversize and then refill with thickened epoxy. This gives a better bond for the screw. You can even fix threaded bar or a reversed bolt in this way in advance and then you have a non-through throughbolt type arrangement which would solve your clamping problem at the same time. There are lots of ways of doing it.
 
nigelm said:
I did my countess 28 this year using http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=5W7MpPa4nzE&autoplay=1

The timber strake that it replaced was rotten , once I removed all the old thru bolts and there were many , I filled the holes with epoxy and smoothed the surface , fitted the rail supplied in 2M lengths using 35mm self tappers and sika , the rubber profile was then fitted but this a two man job and wasn't as easy as they make out in the video , finished off with stainless end caps .

I like wood but this is now almost zero maintenance, apart from a bit of cleaning once in a while .
Click to expand...

I know this is an older thread but where did you purchase this from??
 
Not sure if anyone is interested in what i have done to a few boats, canal boats so get a good scrape now and then. I have just done it again with my new project. I used Sapele with Danish Oil,

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I dont think it is as hard as other timber but good price and bends around the bow easy...ish. This strake is 65mmx 25mm.
 
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