What's the point of a toe rail?

rivonia said:
When you drop your expensive tools you will be so glad of the toe rail- I certainly was.
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+ 1 and have been grateful on a few occasions....

Rub the toerail down then apply a Coelan type product, thats exactly what I'm going to do this winter... Gonna look good:-)
 
As already said, even racers have them for'd of the mast. Nothing messes up a slick spinnaker hoist quite as much as the bowman going over the side.

Remember though that it is a lot easier to do a MoB recovery if you still have six or seven beefy racing crew left on board. Can't really see the reason for doing without toe rails on a cruiser.
 
I hang onto our toe rail with one hand when scrubbing the waterline with the other.

Sorry no picture, you'll have to imagine it...
 
prv said:
+1 - I've been rail meat on a cruiser / racer with standard aluminium toe-rails and bloody uncomfortable they were too!

It seems to be reasonably common for racy boats to have no toe-rails amidships where the ballast sits, but to have them forward of the mast where they can be of use to the crew working on the foredeck.

Pete
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A common dodge for boats with aluminium alloy toe-rails is to slit 2" PVC tubing along its length and slide it onto the toe-rail where the self-tacking ballast sits. It greatly decreases bruising to the bumcheeks.
 
Woodlouse said:
Indeed. They prevent anything dropped on the deck that is capable of rolling from disappearing straight over the side.
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Not trrue!

When ever i drop a tool it rolls to the edge and waits a moment until it has caught my eye and as I make a grab to retrieve it, it calmly waves goodbye before slipping over the side with a witch-like cackle. :(



.
 
lenseman said:
Not trrue!

When ever i drop a tool it rolls to the edge and waits a moment until it has caught my eye and as I make a grab to retrieve it, it calmly waves goodbye before slipping over the side with a witch-like cackle. :( .
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Been there, got several T shirts. You'd have thought Neptune would have got his tool kit sorted by now. Maybe he's upgrading, 'cos it's always the few (and getting fewer) quality tools I keep on board that he seems to want.
 
Thanks, all, for the replies.

One of the reasons for asking the question is because of the complications with our current toe rail. Made of teak, it appears to be part of the deck itself. That is, it has a lip that is covered by the outer-most deck plank. Unlike a catrail that you'd get on, say, a Najad, for example, it is not separate to the deck. It is integral. Whilst researching the costs and structural implications of either removing or replacing the teak deck a couple of things are emerging. Quotes for teak decks DO NOT include the toe-rail. Toe rails and rubbing strakes are priced separately. Also, if we remove the current toe-rail and replace it with an aluminium one we have to consider how and where this gets bolted through the deck. Without removing the deck planks I don't know the answer to some of these questions, but we're trying to track down a man who used to work at Oyster back in the day who may know some of the answers. I hope this in some way explains why I asked a seemingly silly question in the first place!

Have a great weekend, and thank you.

Jamie
 
A friend bought a T24 (different league, eh?) with ply decks and shaped teak toe-rails. The problem was the rail holding puddles of rainwater on the mooring. He unscrewed the rail and put spacers under it on each screw - large enough gap to drain but small enough to stop the screwdriver handle rolling through.

Rob.
 
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