plenty has been written and discussed on this site concerning the fabricating and usefullness of the spray rail. seems to me that from what I learned here of others experiences and my own research is that the fabrication is such a P.I.T.A that the project is never undertaken or costs so much in money and time so as to make the results tainted some what by the cost. lets say the amortizing of the cost to build the rails would take at least 10 years to pay off in terms of fuel saved/speed and general satisfaction. if the cost and time to construct the rails was substantially reduced that would change the entire equasion.
the construction of the rails generally speaking seems to always be laminating wood veneers along the hull and fastening at various points during lamination. if the rail could be cut from lexan the only prep for install would be removal of paint on the fibreglass, glueing and bolting. with lexan fashioned spray rails any lenght of rail could be added at anytime as the profile could be continuously maintained and th same fastening schedule maintained also. with an appropriate bevel, the rails could be butt seamed anywhere facilitating installation in manageable lenghts and replacement if damaged. even if you wanted a modified bottom to the rail, the rail could be installed with the stock profile and ground to shape after installation. the key here is lexan polycarbonate. its almost an indestructable product. a reasonably powerfull (220v+) band saw with jig could produce the shape in little time.
does anyone have any knowlege of of this being tried? seems reasonable to me.
russ