Bill-don't be such a pessimist. I successfully removed and refinished my 20 yr old teak toe rails twice, with great success ( although the one put down by aprevious owner with 5200 was a royal pain). My toe rails were finally ruined when a heavy-handed crew from a commercial boat shop tried to get them off by using a crowbar and brute strength rather than a screwdriver and finesse, and I wish I had switched at that point to PVC for ease of maintenance. However, there is the issue of cost, and if you already have nice looking wood, I'm not sure it's worth it to change to PVC. I've also heard that more actively raced boats can go through PVC forward toe rails pretty fast - word is they will break if hit solidly with the spinnaker pole, unlike teak. Regardless of which type toerail you use, however, I strongly recommend an adhesive which can be removed and even rebedded to itself (ie Boatlife Lifecalk) to make your life easier. You may also consider using only wood screws-no nuts- placed from inside the cabin for a cleaner installation. Hope this helps.

All teak toe rails were attached with adhesive
since # 2100 or thereabouts. Anyone who has ever
tried to sand and refinish toerails would never
want to do it again, so chiseling off the old and
replacing it with the new white pvc is the only
sane thing to do.
The chances of getting 20 year old teak toerails
off in reusable condition is zero.

To remove teak toe rails (and save them for reuse), find the plugs in the teak surface and drill a small pilot hole in the center of each plug. Try not to mar the underlying bolt head. Then drive a small screw into the hole; when the screw reaches the bolt head, it will stop going down and the teak plug should rise cleanly out of the hole. Now just remove the screws/bolts. This is best done with a helper, although vice grips on the nut inside the hull will do in a pinch. Make sure not to remove the bolts holding the deck to the hull (I believe these were larger 1/4" bolts).
Now, pray your toe rail wasn't reinstalled at some point with 3M 5200 and gently pry it up. I hear there is now a product to dissolve 5200 if required, but I'm not holding my breath. Good luck.

Any thoughts on how best to remove teak toe rails. I have a '79 boat that's about to go through a deck conversion (i.e. new style hatch, nonskid, etc.). I vaquely remember reading somewhere on this forum but can't find it now. Thanks

Robert
Calypso 1274