New Cockpit Rails

So I am way behind on updating this, but hey, at least it's here now!

After doing the SeaDek, the StarBoard cockpit rails really looked awful. People say how wonderful that stuff is. "It doesn't stain" "easy to clean" "doesn't deform" Bullshit.

Mine looked horrible. They had black crud into the material in the cracks. I scrubbed. I power-washed. I even sanded. They had sagged over the years and deformed. There was no getting them clean. In looking at the photo above as I write this, I had forgotten how bad they really did look!

 

I made the decision that I wanted teak rails there. Now, I'm pretty good with wood. But I don't have a larger planer, and with the cost of the stock, I didn't want to have to do this one twice. So I paid someone to make the rails for me.

When I walked up on the boat I realized just what a dramatic difference it made. Even with no varnish on them .














After 7 coats of Pettit Flagship Varnish, they gleamed. I decided that it was worth every penny and knew that I had made the right decision.

You may also notice in these photos that the canvas looks a bit different. That's because it's new!

More about that in the next posting.