Stern Cleat Chafe Gear

[ted_reshetiloff]

I had been experiencing a fair amount of chafe on the teak trim on my transom from the dock lines. No matter how I positioned the lines when the tide came in they would end up rubbing on the wood and wearing grooves. I wanted to refinish the varnish back there but not befor I addressed the chafe. A buddy of mine runs a rigging and metal fab shop here in annapolis and we decided to take some 3/16" thick stainless plate with a #8 finish and make chafe protection for the atern cleats. By using 3/16 thick material I was bale to use a router and take off the top 3/16 of the wood getting rid of most of the wear marks. I will end up using a little filler in a few spots to hide the old marks but it should not be noticeable until you look really close. So we routered the wood to make a shelf for the new steel. Then we cut and shaped the metal piece to follow the rounded endge of the wood. I bought new stainless cleats to avoid the aluminum stainless corrosion issues the OEM cleats would present. Still need to make the other side, apply 15 coats of varnish, reinstall and get sunbrella covers made.

 

[Mindscape]

How did you get that off?

Ted - I've got an E 32-3 with what looks like similar teak transom trim. I was wondering how hard it was to get that teak piece off?

Thanks!

 

[ted_reshetiloff]

Not hard. Pulled the hardware, then the teak plugs. Came up with a little putty knife.

 

[Mindscape]

Thanks Ted. Looks like you have a project car too. So many projects, so little time....

 

[ted_reshetiloff]

Not my project car. My metal fab guys car. 1960 Buick, good times. We will be rebuilding the tranny soon in that one. I have a 1978 VW Bus as my project...