Toe/Top rail help for Wundorstar General Forum Forums

So if I ever had to do valkyrs I would find some IPE and use that. It is brazilian Ironwood. Relative of teak, it is harder and denser than teak.. It actually will not float in water. You will have to pre drill every hole for mounting etc.. so if you use it I would buy it and then one piece at a time remove the existing cap on the rail and use it as a templete to shape the IPE and drill your mounting holes in it. This stuff is used in really high end decks in the housing industry and cost's (or did last time I checked) about 1/5 what teak would. I think it will last twice as long as teak given how dense it is. Like I said though every hole needs to be pre-drilled as it will split and crack if you drive a nail or screw through it before drilling. Part of the price of the hard is that it is more brittle.

Scott

I think IPE would be an excellent compromise. I have used it several times on my boats and it is very durable and really pretty. Granted it is a pain to work with, but compared to teak it is affordable.

That's interesting... post a link to that about my boat if you remember where you saw it please. Lol ... I love my boat but she is in serious need of soap and water right now 🙂 maybe some varnish on the outside wood 🙂

We don't have many issues with leaks on valkyr.. not really my doing just haven't had many issues. propane locker is our biggest issue. every once in a while some gunk off deck gets in there and plugs up drain. Then locker fills up and leaks in around where propane hose goes from regulator,safety  valve to stove. Most most years we have owned the boat and she has sat at dock or anchor the bilges have been dry. Once in a while a deck drain or more problematically the propane locker drain gets blocked and water backs up till it finds a way in. Even then it is in ways and places that has not impacted the inside of the boat other than ending up in bilge. Biggest thing we did to help with this was a separate bilge box for chain lockers, ac condensate and shower up under deck in vberth. Oh we also get a bit of water in really heavy rain around glass in butterfly hatch amid ships. not enough to hurt anything under over the years. Every once in a while I take some capt something or the other creep and crack? mix and seal them up again.

Scott

so that is actually not Valkyr and the credit to me for the picture is misapplied as I didn't take it. It is probably something the author pulled from the downeaster website.

Hmm. did a little searching and it is possible it is a photographer in New South Whales named Scott Carle that took the photos. It seems more like it would come from our website given the DE's in the picture but the photos are also claimed to be licensed under a creative commons 1.0 and 2.0  license depending on the photo in that article and I have never used a creative commons license.

I do have a boom gallows arrangement but it is massively different than those shown in the article.

Here is the write up of my hard dodger project ( http://downeasteryachts.com/ar.....hives/3547 ). the boom gallows in integrated into aft end of the dodger about 24 inches forward of the trailing end. It is simply at raised aluminum tube bolted into the structure of the hard dodger frame that keeps the boom from hitting the top of the dodger. You can also use some heavy duty commercial bungee's to lock it down to the boom gallows anywhere along the length. Or you can use a piece of rope to tie it down centered where there is an upright you can use to keep it from having any port or starboard motion. Also the handrails on either side are strong enough that you could tie the boom to them also if you wanted it more outboard port or starboard. All the aluminum is 1 1/4 inch heavy wall marine grade aluminum. I designed the dodger and had a local guy fabricate it. He took my design and modified it to be stronger and prettier and turned it into a work of art as far as I am concerned. If you read the article in the link above you will see pictures where it shows the details of  bends and curves that make it stronger. I can grab a hand rail on this thing and with all 200 lbs of my weight yank on it as hard as I can. It will move the whole boat but the dodger wont flex or budge. You can safely use it to tie off to for a anchor point in bad weather etc as you work on the mid deck or as you go forward or aft on the side decks. It has articulated pads that secure it to the coach roof.

Here is a picture of the finished dodger showing the boom gallows. As you can see it is more of a modern interpretation of a boom gallows than reflective of a traditional one like seen in the article you referenced.

here is a link to forum posts talking about our dodgers before and after the hard dodger

http://downeasteryachts.com/fo.....-for-de-38