Hello Nonsuchers
I’m wondering if anybody has replaced the teak ‘eyebrow’ (that trim strip that runs around the top edge of the cabin trunk). I am considering replacing mine with a plastic composite teak look-alike product. Any suggestions for a suitable product and any other advice on this would be appreciated.
Many thanks,
Greg Silver
Misty Cat 26C #121
St. Peter’s, Cape Breton,
Nova Scotia
I used Plasteak on a former boat. They cut and drilled to the specs I provided, but I do not know if they make rounded products.
Richard Westin, Intuition IX, Nonesuch 36, Marsh Harbour, Abaco, Bahamas.
I’ve been looking at that peeling piece of teak and wondering the same thing.
I replaced the cabintop grab rails with PlasTeak last fall on Bob N’s recommendation. They don’t look exactly like the old teak (so PlasTeak eyebrow would match!) but they look good and will probably stay looking that way for a long time. Just last Friday a charter captain who docks his boat across from mine came by to ask a bunch of questions about them. He was favorably impressed. I think it’s a good option to consider.
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Bob Neches did this and wrote an article about it. See the 2023 Winter Update posted on the INA website. It may also be posted on the website under boat projects and upgrades. I’m thinking of doing the same thing.
Don
My article on it is in the 2023 Winter Update. I thought I’d posted it under Members Tips & Projects as well, but it turns out I hadn’t, so I just added it. You need a bit under 48’ of material to do the eyebrow on a N26.
Some things have changed since then. I did the project with PlasTeak 1" x 1.5" by 12’ pieces, ripped lengthwise into pairs of 0.75" x 1" x 12’. However, I just checked their website and it didn’t look like they still sell that size, so you might have to work with them on an alternative.
If you haven’t already used PlasTeak elsewhere, you might also consider Flexiteek: https://order.flexiteek.com/product-category/flexiteek-trims/
They have some products that I liked a lot and might very well have chosen instead. What drove me to pick PlasTeak over theirs was that the boat already had PlasTeak elsewhere that I wanted to color match.
I’m happy to discuss it in more detail if folks want to get in touch via private message.
– Bob
Me Gusta
Nonsuch e26U #233
Hi Bob,
I’d rather wrestle with a porcupine than to deal with the eyebrow ever again. I am going to go a different route that I have been watching for quite some time. It’s flexible car trim. Dave who bought my Nonsuch 22 installed this stuff, and it took less than an hour to do so, after he prepared the boat surface. It looks good, it wintered well, and it is fairly inexpensive. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CGJL9L4J?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share
Anyone have any thoughts about it?
Cheers,
Butch
Butch Garren
Nonsuch 30 #196 “Whiskers II”
SIYC Slip 12
Solomons, MD
Bob,
I am being a bit cheeky here but unless you used a laser cutter it is impossible to rip a 1.5 inch piece and get two .75 inch pieces. When you make the cut you loose the thickness of your cutting blade.i ran into the problem when i was following plans to build a work bench. They said cut a sheet of plywood into two 96” x 24” pieces. I set the saw to 24” and made my cut. One piece was 24” and the other was 23 7/8” wide. If someone is going to rip a piece they need to set up the saw to split it down the middle. If you start with a 1 1/2” piece you can end up with two 11/16” pieces (assuming my math is correct and you are using a cutting blade with a 1/8” kerf).
Mark Powers
And that is what happens when you get cheeky. I just looked at Bob’s article and see he covered the issue of the kerf. My red faced apology Bob.
Mark Powers
Bob N,
Thank you - I knew I had seen this information in the not too distant past but forgot where it was. Nice that the Updates are so accessible. Your description, and especially warnings about things you’d do differently, are very helpful. Two questions: what size screws did you use; and do you know if there is an adhesive to use at the scarf joints?
Gratefully,
Greg Silver
Misty Cat 26c #121
St. Peter’s, Cape Breton,
Nova Scotia
Ok, first, thank you, Mark, for giving me the excuse to tease you about raising a kerf-fufle.
Butch, my back has gone on strike and I’m finding working on my boat much harder, so I can only sympathize with your preference for wrestling porcupines over doing the eyebrow work. I myself would never sign up to do boat eyebrows on a regular basis. It’s not a job you want to do a lot of times. I’d looked at similar solutions to your friend Dave’s. It seems like a great alternative. It my case, I was trying to retain the traditional look of teak but with lower maintenance.
Greg, I don’t think you want to put an adhesive in the scarf joints. Synthetic teak expands and contracts ever so slightly with heat and cold. If you butt the pieces against each other w/o adhesive, that’s enough space for the pieces not to get in each other’s way when that happens. For the same reason, you want to drill the holes for the screws just one size larger than the threads so that any expansion doesn’t push them around. The screws should thread only through the cabinside. I used Fastcap Speedtape (SpeedTape - FastCap) as an adhesive backing. It’s strong enough to hold pieces temporarily while screwing them in, but not strong enough to be the sole permanent attachment. If my memory’s correct, I used 3/4" screws – I think they were #8 but maybe they were #10. Here’s a picture, showing them tipped with Bed-It butyl tape (https://bed-it.com/) to seal them as they screwed in.
Here’s picture of how the PlasTeak I used for the eyebrow compares to PlasTeak grab rails. If you look closely at the picture, you’ll see the left side of the sample’s been sanded with 40-grit sandpaper to produce a bare teak texture, while the right has been left as it comes from the factory with a finish that looks more like heavy coats of Cetol.
Hope this is all helpful.
– Bob
Me Gusta
Nonsuch e26U #233
Hi again Bob
Thanks for the further info, much appreciated. Waiting for spring thaw now….
Greg Silver
Misty Cat 26C #121
St. Peter’s, Cape Breton
Nova Scotia
We revarnished our brow last taping , 6 coats and removing the tape was accomplished over 5 days. We used a 2 part varnish and hope it will last 6 to 8 years. I suspect replacing the brow with plastic teak would have taken two days…
One trick if you are concerned about expansion is use say a 3/8 screw but drill a 10 mm hole.
I wonder if it’s a climate, geography, or skill that makes the difference. I never got more than three years out of a varnish job down here in Los Angeles.
– Bob
Me Gusta
Nonsuch e26U #233
Bob,
I think it’d be helpful to all if you appended the additional info and photos in this email to the article you posted on the INA website. And thanks again for this info as I am considering doing my eyebrows too.
Cheers,
Don
’87 NS30U #369 - Breezin’
Vancouver, BC
UV is the cause and higher sun latitudes along with longer and more sunny days say in Florida or California compare to the Wet Coast of BC or the 4 month sailing season on the Great Lakes explains the longevity. . I have used two part varnish ( Honey Teak - no longer available) and this time we use an Interlux two part. There are others as well. I expect 8 years . We have had the boat 24 years and this is the 3 redo.
Some folks enjoy varnishing , we enjoy the result. But we go when it does not interfere with sailing. Experience has taught us that early spring and 40 degree shady days are the best time. RH under 60%
Hunh. I posted the other day that I added two pages to my write-up on “Installing Synthetic Teak Eyebrows” under MEMBERS TIPS & PROJECTS on the www.Nonsuch.org web page, in response to Don’s suggestion about adding information.
Somehow that message seems to have been deleted from the thread. I’ll be curious to figure out how/why that happened.
In the meantime, I’m repeating it now in case anyone’s interested.
– Bob
Me Gusta
Nonsuch e26U #233
