Toe rail and hull to deck joint

[Toolate]

Anyone here installed anything other than teak or pvc toe rails?

Options I have heard of are Ipe, aluminum like a sailboat, Stainless, synthetic decking strips, plastic teak. There are tons of products out there and each has its benefits and drawbacks.

Personally leaning towards either Ipe or stainless strips because I have built lots of Ipe decks and its familiar to me- I would leave it natural no oil or finish.

Stainless sounds nice because theres not maintenance and I could bend a 3/4" half round section onto my decks easily enough. Would like to find a rectangular SS piece maybe 1/2" thick x 3/4 with pre drilled holes if anyone has seen anything like this.

I have a new rubrail from Barbour that overlaps the deck by about 5/16" so this would go against that. Deck edge is just flat and hull sides turn inward at the top so screws were driven straight down through deck and lip on hull to hold it all together. Looking for options to replace mine although I would rather have none but there are screw heads from the hull/deck joint that need to be covered.

In keeping with my long winded (posting anyway) nature, I have also thought about glassing this joint or glueing it but both sound like a ton of work compared to leaving it alone- never did it before but wonder if I could remove the screws a few feet at a time and pry the joint open and fill it with plexus or some other adhesive and then replace them for clamping pressure and later remove/fill the holes.

Anyone? Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

 

[chortle]

Natural Ipe sounds like a good solution, especially if you are already familiar with how dense and stiff it is, likely much easier to manage than stainless or bronze and if you leave it natural then zero maintenance, looks better than plastic too. Photo attached of the varnished shear strakes that I made from Ipe, it does bend and twist but only so much. It holds varnish well.

Searched on stainless steel profiles and extrusions and found this site, has a D shape that would be nice but I can't imagine the cost per foot or the hours of drilling and sharpening of bits versus the ease of wood. Attached photo is of a stainless toe rail on a steel sailboat, pretty impressive, guess this guy could not stand to think about sanding and varnishing another wooden toe rail again, ever.

Stainless Structurals | Images

 

[Toolate]

That is one gorgeous sailboat... wow. Nice shop too.

I think you are spot on even though I really don't want to use wood. This stuff is hardly wood from a maintenance perspective. Just thought I would ask and see if anyone has had any different experiences or better ideas.

I looked around a bit and found some stainless half rounds that were drilled and they were about $300/8 or 12' section so I think that is out. Cant imagine drilling those sections in the link you posted either although I bet they could make a great looking piece and polish it up nice. Too nice for my wallet.

Did you have to steam to get those curves? If so how does Ipe steam? I have a steam genny for bending wood that I made years ago up in the rafters somewhere.