I agree that changing it out would be exceedingly expensive. The hull to deck fasteners were tapped into a metal rail embedded in the hull to deck joint and it would mean removing these (possible at this point???) and then tapping new ones. That would leave some holes in the system that would seem likely to leak. Also, the cost of teak has gone up to the point that you would probably need to find an alternative or seek a second mortgage to finance it. Substituions are available, but they have their own issues. I would agree that you should buy another boat if you don't like the metal rail. I would be interested in the hull number of this boat. I recall that one or two of them were raced in the SORC and did not do that well as boats were getting flatter bottoms (better for speed, worse for sea going comfort) around that time and the Tartan 37 as a racing boat lost out first to C&C and CAL boats and eventually J Boats on the race course. I prefer my T 37 for performance cruising as I have yet (after 24 years of ownership) to find a better cross of comfort and speed. Mine is a deep fin, single spreader rig, with an original teak rail.
Ray Velera #373
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