Re: Rub Rails
I replaced mine last year. It was the two-piece version, not a rope insert, and was quite expensive (about $300). Also, my boat is 23' with an 8.5' beam - so 23 feet up, 23 feet back, and 8 and a half feet across gives me 54.5 feet around, and the kits come in 50' and 70' length. So for the extra four and a half feet I had to buy the 70 foot kit - no one sells this stuff by the foot.<br /><br />Prior to installing the new rub rail I removed all of the screws between the two boat sections and the caulking between the hull and the liner and recaulked it using 5200 fast set. Once the caulking had set up I went back and drilled new holes for the hull/liner connection. I then replaced all of the old screws with stainless bolts, fender washers on the inside, and nylock nuts. Then I hung the new rub rail on with the supplied stainless screws plus 50 more that I bought. <br /><br />I put it on alone, a helper would have really been good to have. It took me about 4 hours to put it all on. I then went back and masked both the hull and the bottom of the new rub rail and apply a single bead of additional 5200 under the rail all around. After this had begun to tack I removed the masking tape. It made for a very nice clean instillation and any chance of a future leak between the hull and liner has been lessened (mine was leaking a year or two ago and I resealed it but it was still letting in some water).<br /><br />I do not recall where I bought the rail but I had to search on line for a good while to find it. I matched the original rub rail and that was what caused it to take so long to find just the one I was looking for. It wasn't a matter of having trouble finding the rail itself, Taco makes it and it was listed on their website so it wasn't hard to find, the probelem was finding someone who had it and had the 70' kit. I do recall that when I ordered it that whoever it was didn't have it in stock but that it was drop shipped and got to me in about a week.<br /><br />As for installing it the process is pretty simple. It would very much have helped to have someone stretch it as I screwed it down. I also used a heat gun to bend it around the corners (pretty sharp as you come around the transom on my boat) but it was a pretty chilly day (upper 40's) when I put it on. Installing the center section was tireing on the hands and would have been much easier, but very much slower, had I used the heat gun to fit it in as well.<br /><br />This is the one that I used:<br /><br />
<br /><br />As you can see putting in the insert was a bit more tricky than just stuffing in a piece of rope, but it wasn't all that bad to get in by hand, even cold and stiff as it was.<br /><br />Thom
