The coachroof rails need to be about an inch deep – 25mm – and the thickest length of teak that I could get is a tad over 20mm. So I was going to make shims from the two six-inch lengths I have left over. This will give me sufficient depth to countersink and cap the bolts.

My latest plan is to use the existing old rails. 

Originally, I was going to cut the shims from the old rails. I was going to do this by cutting them laterally and cutting out 5mm deep sections from the underside, where the rail mounted to the coachroof mounting points.

My current idea is to use the whole length of each rail, and sandwich the new piece between the old tops and bottoms. I must admit, I am not convinced that the tops will work, but I think the bottoms will do the job…. An open sandwich!

The new teak is very pale, but I expect that it will all fade to similar shades. I am missing the sternmost two or three inches of the port side rail, which includes the mounting hole and tapered end, so I will have to make a shim for that section.

I had to cut the old rails ino shorter lengths yesterday to get them into the car – so there will be some small gaps where I sawed the wood. I can fill and hide the gaps on the underside, I hope, but the topsides will look awful, I think.

We shall see..

Some pics of work in progress: