Pearson 40 Owners Association

Whenever you own and maintain a yacht, compromise becomes an essential element in getting the greatest enjoyment from your investment. Balancing aesthetics, ease of maintenance, strength and offshore readiness is part science, part personal preference, and part emotion. Such was the case when making two modifications to my 22-year-old Pearson 40.

Teak is beautiful. No one will argue with that. There is nothing quite as breathtaking as teak trim with 8 perfectly applied coats of gloss spar varnish reflecting the sun from its mirror-like finish. With that beauty comes compromise since varnished teak also requires a significant investment in time. My desire to sail more and varnish less lead me to consider the possibility of replacing my original teak toerails with perforated aluminum toerails, and to replace the original teak handrails with stainless. I pondered this idea until I attended a major sailboat boat show. There, displayed at the show, was a Pacific Seacraft 40, one of the most beautiful “Teak Wonders” of the plastic boat world, but with NO teak except for two dorade boxes. Perforated aluminum toerails and stainless steel handrails now covered this classic. The dealer explained that this PS40 was a special “Florida Edition”, sans teak, that they had convinced Pacific Seacraft to build specifically for the Florida environment. The dealer also said that since creating this new, nearly teak-less 40, the majority of PS40’s were being built this way for owners all over the country. I have always admired the Pacific Seacraft 40 for it’s teak adorned beauty, but this “teak-less” PS40 was also VERY good looking. The aluminum and stainless actually “modernized” the look. I decided it was time to trade teak for aluminum and stainless.

In addition to the prospect of reduced maintenance, installing new toerails and handrails would gave me the opportunity to fix a number of annoying leaks that had developed over the years. A quick discussion with my local naval architect, Jack Corey at JSI, added a third positive dimension to the decision. Jack explained that bolting a proper aluminum toerail at the hull-to-deck joint was akin to attaching an I-beam to the rail, providing significant strengthening to the hull. Attaching welded stainless handrails to the deck, just aft of the mast, would have a similar strengthening effect on the deck. On top of that, older wooden handrails are notoriously weak, particularly after sitting in the sun for many years and from the normal erosion of material due to cleaning and sanding. Replacing the handrails would provide the additional benefit of strong and safe grab-rails for the crew on deck.

Toerail replacement

The hull-to-deck joint on the Pearson 40 is typical of production boats from that era. There is an inward facing flange on the hull, with the deck sitting on and overlapping the hull flange. Sheet metal screws hold the deck and hull together and there is bonding/sealing filler between the two. A teak cap rail that is bolted and/or screwed down covers the joint.

To replace that teak rail, I selected an aluminum extrusion manufactured by Goiot in France, and distributed in the US by Welmax Marine. I selected the Goiot toerails for their looks, quality and because they offered a complete integrated system with rails, cast ends and mid-ships chocks allowing for a custom, professional look.

Removing the old Toerail

The first step is to get access to as much of the underside of the rail as possible. Removing significant portions of the interior trim turned out to be the most time-consuming part of the project but is essential to the success of the effort. Once you have unfettered access to the underside of the rail, remove the old toerail by removing any screws and/or bolts holding the teak rail down. Once the screws and bolts are removed, the teak rail should pop off.

Clean and seal the joint

Underneath the old toerail will be a layer of bedding compound, dirt, salt and varnish. This can be removed with a putty knife and fiberglass-safe paint and varnish remover. Once cleaned, the entire hull-to-deck joint is exposed. At this point, you have the opportunity to permanently seal the joint if you choose. By placing a fillet of thickened epoxy along the ridge where the deck overlaps the hull and then covering the fillet with a layer of epoxy soaked fiberglass tape, the hull to deck joint can be made watertight. This may be overkill, but you can be sure that the hull-to deck joint never leaks. Considering the overall effort to install new toerails, the extra 4 or 5 hours it takes to do the glass work here is well worth the investment in my mind. Once this process is complete, the finished joint should be inspected for any lumps or protrusions, which might prevent the new rail from sitting flush. A small grinder or Dremel tool will quickly level them.

Dry-fitting the new toerails

This task requires no special skills other than patience and care. The key is to completely dry-fit the entire toerail system, using only bolts. No bedding compound or epoxy at this point. Once the dry-fit is complete, the toerail system is removed and then reinstalled with bedding compound and epoxy.

The rail extrusions are approximately 20’ long requiring a joint approximately mid-ships. The standard Goiot cast mid-ships chock makes for a smooth and professional joint. Once the position of the chock is determined, it is bolted in place. This becomes the starting point for both the forward and aft sections of the rail. The opposite end of the rail must be temporarily suspended over the side as you start the bending process.

Starting at the chock, each rail section is progressively bent to conform to the curve of the hull as you work towards the other end, installing a bolt and nut in each hole as you go. Great care should be exercised in areas where there is a severe curve to the rail, particularly at the mid-ships chock. This is where aesthetics take over. “Sighting” the shape of the curve from above is essential so that the bend in the finished rail installation is smooth with no kinks or angles. Continue the bolting-bending steps until you reach the end of the hull. Cut the extrusion to fit, add an end fitting and you are ready to do the same series of steps on the other 3 pieces of rail extrusion. Once all 4 sections of rail are completed, the bolts, fittings and extrusions are removed and marked so that they can be reinstalled in the same locations.

Final fitting and installation

Once all the new parts are removed, both the joint area to be covered by the new rail and all of the aluminum parts must be cleaned. Isopropyl alcohol is an excellent, fast drying, environmentally friendly solvent for this. Once cleaned, final installation of the first section of the new rail can begin. Having three people for this task, two doing the installation and one doing cleanup, is recommended. All necessary tools should be set out on deck along with the bolts, washers and nuts to be used during the installation. Once any section is started, it must be completed quickly before the bedding compound or epoxy begins to set up.

The first step is to permanently mounting the mid-ships chock using bedding compound. The bolts can be set in bedding compound or thickened epoxy. My personal preference for sealing through-deck bolts is a product called Super Bond Epoxy Adhesive from Fiberglass Coatings in St Petersburg FL ( www.fgci.com ). The installation of all toerail sections starts at the mid-ships chock and then works aft or forward. The selected rail is turned upside-down and bedding compound is applied to the bottom of the entire rail section. It is best to use two beads of bedding, one inboard and one outboard. Once the bedding compound is applied, the rail is turned right side up. The end that is away from the starting point at the chock is hung on its temporary support. Starting with the first bolt next to the chock, the bolts are bedded and tightened progressively along the rail, one at a time, until the end is reached. Once the track is finished, the end fitting is bedded and bolted down. Once the cleanup is completed, that section is finished and the same process can be repeated for the other 3 sections.

In my case, the entire process took a total of about 80 person-hours (two people over two full weekends) and cost less than $2000. The work is in fact fairly simple technically, but the physical effort to perform those simple tasks can be quite taxing. In particular the effort required contorting your body and reaching into the recesses under the rail for attaching nuts and washers can test your relationship with your crew. Youth and flexibility are a real benefit as are long arms. Manual dexterity is challenged when you are reaching up behind a bulkhead attempting to get a nut and washer on a bolt that you can only feel and not see. Still, this is one of the most rewarding projects I have ever done on a boat. Maintenance is dramatically reduced. The new toerail makes the boat look far more “modern”. The hull-to-deck joint is 100% waterproof and to the best of my ability, I feel the boat is significantly stiffer structurally.

Materials:

4 - 6 meter sections of style 811 Goiot aluminum toerail

1 pair (port and starboard) style 811.01 Goiot aluminum end castings

2 – Style 811.10 Goiot aluminum middle fairleads (mid-ships chocks)

1 pair (port and starboard) style 811.40 end fairleads (stern chocks)

200 ¼-20 x 1 ¼” flathead phillips stainless steel machine screws

50 ¼-20 x 1 ½” flathead phillips stainless steel machine screws

250 ¼-20 stainless steel “Nylock” nuts

250 ¼” x 1” stainless steel fender washers

250 ¼” x 1 ¼” stainless steel fender washers

5 or 6 caulking tubes of 5200

Misc:

1” fiberglass tape

Fiberglass safe paint and varnish remover

2 or 3 gallons of isopropyl alcohol

Boxes of rags

West 105 epoxy resin

West 206 epoxy hardener (slow)

West user fill-able, disposable caulking tubes

Coloidical silica filler

1” Masking tape (3M Blue or FineLine)

Small brushes – ½” cheap throw-away

Superbond Epoxy Adhesive

Tools

Appropriate screwdrivers

Putty knives

Caulking gun

Small hand electric grinder

7/16” Sockets, wrenches and ratchets

Cordless drill

¼” drill bits

Properly sized phillips bits for the ¼” phillips machine screws.

Installing New Handrails

Replacing the old teak handrails with stainless steel turned out to be a straightforward project, once I finally figured out how to remove the original rails.

Removal of the original teak handrails requires that you first remove the headliner in the area under the handrails AND the inside handrails. The headliner is removed by unscrewing the screws which hold up the battens which retain the headliner panels. Once the headliner is removed, the below-deck handrails will come free when you remove the fasteners ON DECK which are beside the on deck handrails. (See the right hand picture above). These fasteners are 5" or 6" long #10 machine screws with nuts imbedded in the handrail, under the bung. Once the below deck handrail is removed, you will need to remove the 2x4 which runs fore and aft above the below deck handrails. The 2x4 is held up by a number of long sheet metal screws screwed into the deck. make sure you mark which side of the 2x4 is up and where the sheet metal screws were for easy reinstallation. Once the 2x4 is removed, you will see 6 sheet metal screws, screwed into the underside deck. These are what hold the handrails on. Remove the screws, pull off the old handrails, and temporarily fill the holes with epoxy to make sure no water gets in while the new rails are fabricated.

I took the original rails to a local marine stainless fabricator who built replacement rails that aligned the new rail fasteners with the originals, allowing me to cover the existing holes in the deck. The only modification required was a new way to attach the handrails to the deck. The original attachment is pretty weak and I think prone to leaks. The new rails were fabricated with 2" long, 5/16" threaded studs sticking straight down from each leg. These protruded through the cabin ceiling, and part way through the 2x4 which allowed me to counterbore the 2x4 from below and install the rail with nuts and backing washers. The process to install the new rails is as follows:

Was the toerail and handrail refit worth the time and effort?

Without a doubt! The boat is stronger, drier, safer and easier to maintain. As much as I love teak, I must say that in today’s time restricted society, I prefer stainless and aluminum.