Installing Rubrail ?

[Leon m]

I am getting ready to install some white oak
rubrails on my wooden Sunfish wich is mahogany
ply painted with enamel.

The rails will be varnished with Sikkens
marine varnish.Could I use marine adheasive
caulk(wich I already have),or do I need to
get some kind of special kind of marine goo
that I am not aware of,To put between the hull
and rails?

My other question is:Should I use nails or screws to attach the rails.

[ishmael]

Screws, countersunk and bunged, and with what you have for bedding--all probably. What is the goo? How thick is the rubrail? If its under about 5/8, 3/4 my suggestion is not so good. It's difficult to countersink and bung in stock thinner.

You could bed with one of the polysulfides, or with simple oil based bedding compounds. I'd suggest the later. I don't know why. Use a lot of it.

You could fasten with oval-head screws, set just below the surface, if the stock is too thin for countersinking. I wouldn't nail it. How was it originally fastened?

Just my take.

P.S. There's a trick worth using that makes the rubrail lie tight, top and bottom. You set up an angled fence on the table saw and it cuts a cove in the face which mates with the hull. Look in a good tablesaw book.

[ 06-28-2003, 01:12 AM: Message edited by: ishmael ]

[Leon m]

Ish

The rails are 5/16" thick x 3/4" wide.

Is this bedding compound something I can
pick up at West Marine ?

How about Rose nails or maybe a #6 x 1"
slot screw slightly countersunk?

How thick should the bedding compound be
1/32" 1/16" 1/8" ?

I don't know how it was originaly fastened
as it didn't have any rubrail when I bought
it,but I am guessing it had aluminum nailed
on .I think wood will look much nicer.

[ 06-28-2003, 09:55 AM: Message edited by: Leon m ]

[Scott Rosen]

If you're installing the rail on top of painted wood, then I agree with Ish on the oil-based bedding. Anything stronger is a waste of money because it will bond to the paint, but not the underlying wood of the hull.

The best way to install a rubrail is to fasten it before you paint the hull. In that case, you could use a stickier goo in a tube with strong adhesive properties.

[ishmael]

Leon,

The gunk is called a variety of names like 'Boatyard Bedding Compound' or 'Dolphinite'. Most paint manufacturers have a flavor, and I think they're pretty much the same. Available from Jamestown Distributors, or even West.

The amount to put on is enough so that it squeezes out. There was a short article in one of the recent WB's about bedding, would be worth hunting up. Not like it's terribly complicated, but you want enough to give a good seal.

5/16 is too thin to countersink and bung, to my mind anyway. Hmm. The only reason I suggested oval heads over flat is they look a little better, but flat would work. The reason to not use nails is that a rubrail needs to be easily removed so when it gets banged up...but I wonder if that assumption fits here.

I think I might be tempted to use a fine, galvanized finish nail and some putty. Pre-drill the oak and what it's going into, just a hair smaller than the diameter of the nail, set it lightly and putty with a correct color putty. They'll all but disappear. And I don't think iron would be a problem here.

[ 06-28-2003, 05:19 PM: Message edited by: ishmael ]

[Leon m]

Thanks Ish & Scott,You got me on the
right road now. ;)

[Leon m]

Hey Ish
You live in Maine...They got to have some
bronze wingnuts out there ???

See thread in resource

[ 06-28-2003, 09:11 PM: Message edited by: Leon m ]

[ishmael]

I'll look for that, but I've been thinking about your rubrails. Once you slather them with bedding dejour they're going to be slippery as all get out.

Do you have access to some long bar clamps? I'm trying to figure a way to hold those rubrails while you get them well fastened.

Believe me, the bedding compound is going to make them want to dance like a cricket on a hot skillet.

Hmm.

P.S. Just thinking here so don't take it as gospel. You want, if you can, to fasten them from the center toward the ends. I think with two long bar clamps you could reach across the beam, clamp the rail in the center, and work it toward the ends. Slather the bedding as you go, rather than all at once.

[ 06-28-2003, 11:50 PM: Message edited by: ishmael ]

[Leon m]

Howbout I tape them in place until I
get them fastened ?

[ishmael]

Tape. I'm trying to adjust to the size.

Getting things lined up, a few pencil marks, slather two feet of the center with bedding and tape it. Then work from there.

That makes sense, I think. Eminent sense.

It's really rather delicate work. A look at canoe builder's methods might be worthy.

[ 06-29-2003, 12:08 AM: Message edited by: ishmael ]

[Walcheren]

The way I understand it rub rails are to protect the hull from damage. So the rub rails are made to be damaged. They therefore have to be affixed to the hull so that they can be replaced. In addition, while they are on the hull you don't want water to creep between them and the hull causing damage that way. If this is all true you install the rub rail last, after the hull is painted and preferably using boat felt between it and the hull. Now I have a seal as well as I can take the thing off anytime and replace it. So I would suggest to finish the hull, then use any non permanent goop that will keep the water out. Boat felt is difficult to get hold of but I saw it used in the Wooden Boat school in Port Townsend. I used Sikaflex 291 which forms a non permanent bond since I could not get the felt, unless in large rolls.

[ 06-30-2003, 09:20 PM: Message edited by: Walcheren ]

[Art Read]

I put some rather more substantial Mahagony rubrails on my project with out having any bar clamps big enough for the job. I did them one at a time. Slathered the faying surface along the whole length beforehand, suspended the whole thing from the ceiling at approx. the right position and height alongside the hull, pre-drilled a few holes at the bow end and started fastening there. Working your way aft, fastening as you go, it all goes home pretty easily. (By starting at the bow, with the sharpest bends, you have a lot more "leveredge" to pull the rest of the rubrail into place.) The bedding DOES tend to make a big mess though, no matter how carefull you are. Seems to me a Sunfish hull is of a similar shape so it should work just as well for you, and it's small enough that perhaps just a helper, (wearing disposable gloves!) holding up the other end while you work would be simpler.

[ 07-01-2003, 03:30 PM: Message edited by: Art Read ]

[Leon m]

Art
Good Idea hanging it from the rafters. ;)

Walcheren
I like the idea of felt but as you say,hard to
get and not cheap.

Has anyone ever used Boat Life,Life caulk?
I guess they make a caulk/bedding compound
that has good adhering qualities to just about
everything...whatayathink ?

The nice thing is that I can get it just
down the road.