Good Old Boat Issue 142: Jan/Feb 2022

Toe-tallyWorth It Replacing leaky toerails with beautiful bulwarks was an intensive but rewarding job.

BYMARISSA NEELY

D espite her many attributes, our 1979 Cheoy Lee 41, Avocet , for a time was living up to the epithet “Cheoy Leaky,” and when my husband, Chris, and I realized that the toerail was a significant source for many of those leaks, we knew we had to come up with a solution. We put a Band-Aid on by applying a bead of Teak Decking Systems caulking on the seamwhere the toerail met the deck and hull. That mitigated the problem for a couple of years until we had the time, money, and plan to convert our leaky toerails to lovely bulwarks. Back in the 1970s when Avocet was built, the Cheoy Lee Shipyard in Hong Kong was known for its strong fiberglass construction. To make the hull-to-deck joint on which the toerail would reside, Cheoy Lee glassed in a shelf where the

deck would sit in and on the hull. As the deck was dropped into place, builders applied a generous amount of sealant in the joint, then fiber- glassed the two pieces from the inside. Externally, the joint was not glassed over—a labor-intensive and expen-

And in that final step—bolting—lay the rub. Cheoy Lee was also known for using poor-quality stainless steel, and the

When we removed what was left of the bolts, they crumbled in our hands.

sive additional step. The quicker, tried-and-true approach was to construct a toerail and through-bolt it on top of the joint; on Avocet , the 41-foot-long, 1¼-inch by 4-inch toerail was bent into place and drilled every 12 inches

down through the wood, the deck, and the hull shelf before finally being bolted in place.

galvanically corroded stainless bolts and bronze nuts that connected the toerail to

the deck compromised the otherwise solid structural integrity, in addition to being prone to leaking. When we removed what was left of 180-plus bolts, many of them crumbled in our hands, making it clear where the water had found voids to creep below. Faced with the choice of repairing the damage and installing a new toerail or considering a completely new option, we opted for the latter and began looking into designing and installing a bulwark.

The newwooden bulwarks complement Avocet ’s lines and add an extra element of grace to her overall look.

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