INVESTIGATOR 563

Thanks Peter,

I noticed that the Bunnings router table came with plastic feather boards like that.

I don't have a table saw, but the router does a good job, and with my vacuum attachment, it makes no mess.

Anyway, I was probably overthinking the thickness issue, the electric plane works fine, I just needed some practice in making an even cut.

Now, to find out if I can cut the recycled HDPE or if it just melts.

Cheers, Ian

Toe rail update.

Step 1. collect recycled HDPE from https://www.replas.com.au/ Step 2. rip down 40 x 40 profile to 30 x 40 on dodgy home-made saw-bench. Make a terrible microplastic eco-disaster (despite using vacuum). Go to Bunnings and buy cheap(ish) 20l vacuum. Step 3. buy second-hand router and bits from gumtree, assemble dodgy home-made router table. Burn-out bearings of router, go to Bunnings buy new cheap(ish) bunnings router. Route out profile for toe rail. Package up microplastics to send back to Replas in the post. Step 4. buy cheap(ish) multi-tool for removing old rotted toe rail. Fill old screw holes with epoxy putty. Clean hull-deck joint. Cut new toe rail. Drill new holes with drill jig for straight holes. Attach rail with new screws (no one told me about galling on new stainless screws) . Step 5. repeat. For those considering this option. The replas HDPE has a lot of voids in it. The outside finish is great but I had to cut off a few dodgy bits. I refuse to count up the total cost of this project, but it way exceeded my budget

Great job Ian. Well done. Should outlast the rest of the boat. Cheers

Champion job Ian. Proving investigator owners are not quitters

Worth the effort. Toe rail IMHO is a most important safety feature. It makes moving around the boat much safer and sure footed. At heel or level . Black toerail adds 2k to the value of the boat I always say, particularly when matched with black below the waterline. I’d paint my bare alloy rail black if it didn’t probably need to be touched up all the time. Looks great, very modernising

Looks good Ian, thanks for pioneering method and detailing how to do it step by step. It will be a very resilient toe rail.

At the other end of the polyethylene spectrum, experimented replacing my toe rail with 19mm low pressure garden polypipe (as a tempoary measure, until something better, but suspect it could last a long time if needed). It was ultra cheap and only needed a stanley knife to cut it. Inserted split dowels under the old screw holes, and reused all the ss screws from old wood ones. But screwed down from the top. Had to file the burs off top of each ss screw, they can make nasty skin cuts it left raw. Used silicone to plug up and hold ends.

So far it's working, the polypipe is flexible, resilient and kind to other boat topsides etc. Its very uv and wear resistant. at least the hul deck fibreglass flange is protected. It looks a bit agricultural and not perfectly fair up close, but passes welsfords "5 meter rule" and has the black pinstripe look too.

I use poly pipe with dowel in it to replace the hand rails. It gets super hot in the sun so I am currently bending some tas oak to give that a try.

Ian