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Has anyone had the cap rail off their Downeaster? I just hauled Bodhran down here in New Zealand and bound and determined to seal up all the leaks that have plagued me for years. I just pulled off the fascia and found one of the hull to deck leaks, but now I'm trying to figure out the best way to seal it up. The cap rail is made up of two sections, a large top plate that is screwed down through the hull to deck joint and a fascia piece screwed into the top piece. Pulling off the fascia reveals the hull to deck joint, so theoretically I don't need to take off the top piece to reseal the hull to deck joint. I'm not sure that the caulk will stick properly if I don't loosen up the hull to deck joint, goop it up and then tighten it back down again. Has anyone done this?
Here's a pic of the leaky area with the fascia gone if anyone is interested in what our hull to deck joints look like:
Jason
DE32 Bodhran
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I removed mine, they were such a mess - not worth putting back. I epoxy filled any holes, then glassed the top to make sure it was strong and water tight. I'm so glad I don't have all that superfluous wood to maintain, or worry about leaks. There's probably pics. on the site.
Tim 'Pelli' DE32
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I would think that Tim's approach is likely the only sure way to bulletproof that joint. Having seen his (hi Tim!) there is no chance of leaks (albeit a bit utilitarian 🙂 ). That said I plan to (someday) pull off the caprail and then either reinstall the current teak or more likely create a new cap rail and rebed it in lots of sealent. My leaks are minor at this point (just some dampness really) but I'm betting it's only a matter of time before Amatheia develops some real gushers somewhere in that area.
BTW I don't think I have the fascia. I had a pretty good gap all around and put a fillet there of epoxy mixed with fairing filler. But it's certainly not a water-tight solution. My cap rail came out over the side of the hull but not down at all below the top of the bulwark.
Scott
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I would think that removing the cap rail and glassing over the whole joint is the final solution. I know on Valkyr that our teak is very old and worn on the caprail. maybe a 1/4inch of the original thickness is worn away. All the railing pads stand on a little island of raised teak where they have protected it from the environment or owners sanding it 🙂 If replacing the teak I'm not sure what we would do. Ipe would probably be what we used to replace it with as it is much cheaper. However it is heavier than teak. I have seen someone use the plastic decking boards from home depot or lowes to replace their caprails with. I'm not sure how badly we leak in that area as I have only had her out once where I was getting green water over the bow and I don't remember off hand if we got much water in the bilge.
Scott
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I'm torn. I ended up getting the fascia piece off all the around the cap rail yesterday. I broke one small section, but should be able to reuse all the wood. The easy thing now would be to clean up the hull to deck joint, maybe try and squirt some thickened epoxy in there to fill any voids, caulk it and then replace the fascia piece. Of course I don't want to have to be doing this again some time down the road, so the right thing is to probably take off the rest of the cap rail, glass over it and see how much I can reuse. It's plenty thick and I should be able to get it off without damaging it, but there's always the risk. I just can't afford to replace all that teak right now.
Jason
DE32 Bodhran
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The Hull-Deck joint on my DE38 looks a bit different than yours, Jason. I've ripped off all of my caprail for my rebuild and have planed on refinishing the teak and putting back on. There are some concerning spots of cracking and areas where I goofed on the bung removal. But overall, I think I can reuse the teak and be satisfied with it. If the wood looks poor, I might consider just painting it.
I am, however, considering the possibility of glassing over the rail. Tim, do you have any photos of your glassed-over rail? I'm concerned I will miss the look of the wooden rail.
I know that Martin S. replaced his caprail with Trex, the faux decking. It looks pretty good and it is something to consider.
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The pics. of Pelli are in the General Forum under Pelli re-fit - I think there are a couple that show the rail. I'm very happy with it . Have some places with stick-on stair tread stuff, where we climb on and need good grip. I also do without the teak eyebrows - have stick-on stripe there instead, so my only varnishing is the tiller, handrails, dorade boxes and bowsprit rails (the latter, will probably end-up painted sooner or later). After all the teak on the Peterson 44 (in the tropics), this is a dream.
Tim 'Pelli' DE32
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