How are Beneteau toe-rails attached?

[Sinbad2222]

One of the teak toe rails on my newish Beneteau has a small split at the end. I'm thinking of sanding the rail back to make it look better and prevent the crack spreading and but am worried about coming up against a fixing screw from below. I have tried to locate the position of these screws by looking inside the hull and can't find any. Does anybody know if the rails are, in fact, simply glued to the hull? All advice appreciated.

 

[Miker]

I seem to remember that when I was fitting centre cleats on my 260 Spirit and was checking on the cable run in the cabin roof below, I came across some screw ends which could only have been from the teak toe rail.

 

[Sinbad2222]

Yes, I noticed some screw ends which puzzle me as there is no sign of their heads on the rail. Is the rail made in two parts and glued together I wonder?

 

[davidwf]

I was working on my 21.7 the other week and took photos the rail does appear to be held on by screws, you can see the last screw just before the bolt holding the pushpit on.

I suspect they are screwd through the toerail and dowled to cover the screw heads mind you it must be good bit of work becuase I cannot remember seeing any sign of them.

 

[Sinbad2222]

Yes, that's just what my 25.7 looks like from inside. As you say, no dowels or plugs so I suppose the rail is in two parts with the upper section glued over the lower section to entirely cover it. However if I look in the cockpit lockers there are no protuding screws visible there, only inside the boat can they be seen.
It's a mystery!

 

[davidwf]

I posted a question on the 210/211 forum and got this reply

"I haven't taken mine apart, but I have a diagram that shows a insert screwed into the wood, with a threaded rod screwed into that, and a nut on the inside of the boat. All of this is also along with the through bolted deck-hull joint."

I wonder if the screws we can see are just put in to temporaily hold the joint prior to the bolting with the toe rail.

 

[Sinbad2222]

That's usefull info, thanks. Looks as though I could sand back the cracked ends of the rails after checking that there are no threads/nuts underneath first.

 

[waterboy]

I suffered split teak toe rails on my Ben. It was caused by the oxidation of the parts of the alluminium cleats that pass through the toe rail. The build up of grunge forces the grain apart in the toe rail, much as you suggest. I had mine repaired professionally but the repairers (Desty Marine) coated the part of the cleats that went through the toe rails with some sealant which has, so far, stopped the splitting re-occuring.