Hand rail removal

[Bob23]

  Wow, LC. Sounds like a lot of work that will be worth it. I didn't have any conditions quite that serious. I also like the Flagship- suppose to have a high UV resistance. Of course, anything clear lets the sun through so we'll see. It seems to be quite hard once it's cured. I did a test on my both my framing and trim hammers (wood handles) and they've held up well.
  The Starbrite on my boat resembled brown paint. Why anyone would use it is beyond me. How did you treat your interior teak? Mine initially got a mild bleach washdown followed by fresh water rinse. ( I had a lot of mold to deal with) After that, it's teak oil through and through. Each season, I go over all of it with a light teak oil wipe down and it looks great.
   I did, however, make provision for constant air-flow by installing a Nicro solar powered vent on the cabintop hatch. Seems to do the trick, plus I air the boat out when I can. She likes to breath!
   Bob

[LConrad]

According to ComPac, the trim along the side is screwed in with wood screws and then plugged.  If somebody wanted to remove it, you should be able to remove the plugs and unscrew it.  No need to worry about interior nuts like the handrails.  I may take a shot at making new instead of refinishing.

[Bob23]

LC:
   That may be true according to Compac but mine had some kind of reddish-brownsih adhesive under it that would not budge.  I presumed that it was applied that way at the factory as there was no evidence that any of the other teak had previously been removed.
   I wanted to remove it but made a mess of the portside one so bad that I left the starboard one on. When I did finally get the portside off, it was in many pieces. I made a new one, varnished it and installed it this winter past.
   Fair winds, my friends, Bob in "Koinonia".

[ramble on]

Where do you get teak veneer?

[rmonsma]

Try doing a Google search under "teak veneer" and you will find much info.  Believe it or not even amazon.com has teak veneer available.

Good luck.

Roger

[Paul]

Bob:

Kind of sounds like the reddish material tenaciously holding the teak could have been epoxy.  West System has a blending agent (407), read fillet glue, that bonds hardware.  A previous owner could have possibly used that to attach and seal the rail.  Personally, I don't recommend it for the very reason you explain in your post.  However, if it were epoxy (there may be more on your vessel if the PO used it on the hand rails), heating it first will weaken the bond and make removal a little easier.

Just my $0.02

[Craig Weis]

I was the first to put Comfort and Joy in the water as she was laid-up for a few years while the first purchaser recovered from the death of his wife. From the factory my boat came with no finish on the teak.

I washed and brightened the wood and Cetaled it, kind of orange. But I like it.
All the wood down below deck is hand rubbed with several coats of Minwax Floor wax...But I like it too.
Soon after I bought my boat the first owner purchased a Sun Cat. All is well. skip.

[jimyoung]

Skip,

The "redish stuff" must have come from the factory,  It was under the handrails of my 27 as well.  It was also under all the other topside wood that I have removed.  Almost like a 5200.

Jim

[Bob23]

Paul:
   Thanks for the feedback. Whatever that reddish stuff was, it didn't want to budge. Must have been added by a PO. It was only under the custom winch pads that are on my boat. I haven't seen these on any other 23. The good part is that they were done well and provide a mounting surface for both the bronze cleats as well as the Andersen winches that some previously-more-wealthy-than-I onwer installed in place of the bronze winches that were original equiptment.
   I consider myself quite forturnate not only to own a 23 but also to own on that PO's actually made improvements instead of "improvements". Most of the work was done well and she's been well cared for in her past. I'm just carrying the torch till the next owner comes along, which won't be too soon, if I can help it.
   Bob in "Koinonia" out!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Paul]

That's good fortune that the PO made quality improvements.  If some folks have "sealant" from the the factory, then it may be teak colored 5200.  I don't know when 3M started making it in colors, but colors are optional in current catalogs.

I suppose if the bonding material is hard, it's epoxy;  if it's soft, it's colored 5200.

[edbuchanan]

My theory is that the "reddish brown" stuff is teak colored "Life-Calk".  I've been using it on our boat for years now, and it behaves (and looks exactly) like the original sealant under the handrails etcetera.  It has a less tenacious grip than 3M 5200.  The maker of Life-Calk sells a solvent and cleaner for it.

Ernie

[Paul]

Cool.  Do you think it's any easier to work with than 5200?

Paul

[edbuchanan]

Yup, it is very weak when compared to 5200, at least for handrails.  The eyebrows were probably attached to the boat with Life-Calk also, but they do not budge.  I didn't think to try the solvent on them.

Ernie

[curtisv]

Once again, this site is great.

I took off the acorn nuts, got a block of wood and hammered not so lightly.  Didn't budge.  So I searched the site for "handrails" and this thread came to the top of the search.

So I got the heat gun and sure enough warmed up the handrail joint and with a few firm hits with the wood block and 4 lb hammer and each one popped out.  Thanks to Skip and others for the advice.  This thread was still as useful as ever 6 years later.

The handrails are now scraped and one is sanded (36, 60, 150, 220) and teak oil applied.  Last year I made a new solid teak hatch board set and refinished most of the exterior teak with just teak oil.  Looks great either grayed or after applying oil again.  This year I'm doing the handrails.  I sanded the eyebrows in place but next year I may make new ones.

For the better part of 10 years I used cetol.  Now only the bowsprit has cetol on it.  The rest is oiled.

Curtis


The hatch boards came out nice.  Here is last years photo of the hatch boards.



I have photos of the work done last year and now the handrails if anyone is interested.