Toe Rail Design Concepts

Tim has been busy milling up various profiles for the combination toe rail / rub rail. You can find more detailed info from his daily logs for Thursday April 29th and Friday April 30th. The inspiration for this concept came from Tim's Triton Daysailor project.

I quite like the way the combined toe rail and rub rail cleaned up the hull deck joint and accentuated the shear line. In addition Bolero as some humps from deck repair at the chainplates that need to be hidden by the these rails. The only concern that I had prior to Tim's toe rail profile research project was finding a profile that "fit" the sleeker shape of Bolero.

Profile #1

This is the first profile that Tim milled. It included a flat area along the side for including a brass rub strip which as been discussed as a possibility. From the start and from every view this profile seems way to bulky. The Shields just doesn't seem to have the size to support this much toe rail.






















Profile #2

This second profile is very similar to the fist except Tim removed the flat portion for the brass rub strip. Again this section is too bulky for the Shields.




















Profile #3

For profile #3 Tim reduce the dimensions to slim down the profile. This is a balance act. Finding the slimmest profile that will cover the hull deck joint while enabling him to fasten and plug deck screws.

This was my favorite section so far. I like the size much better. I did however prefer the more rounded section of the first profile. So of course that means on to profile #4.



















Profile #4

So here we have the profile to end all profiles. Well for now anyway. Tim modified profile #1 to the minimum size of profile #3. This is starting to feel right. I am still pondering a bit but I like the looks of this one.























A couple of definite decisions have come out of this process so far. First the idea of a rub strip along the outside edge of the rub rail is out. For me it seemed a bit too much when combined with the gold cove stripe that we have planned. Second, I am going to go with out toe rail chocks. This happened for two reasons. I have been unable to find bronze Skene chocks in a size that I like and also I just don't anticipate being tied to a slip that often. So for mooring, Bolero will use her bow fairlead and for docking lines will run over brass rub strips mounted to the top of the toe rails where needed.