quarter rail/fender repairs

[jim rosenthal]

Most of our boats have mahogany rails at the back, capped with a stainless steel rub rail; today I began the process of stripping these and refinishing/repairing them as needed. They appear dry (they ought to be after a long cold winter with the boat wrapped up in its breathable winter cover) Mostly they are in good shape, but the forward end of the starboard one is shedding some of its paint, and some of the holes for screws that attach the stainless pieces are clearly loose, so some work is in order.

The plan so far is to mask them off (all the surrounding paint is in good shape) and wood down the areas which require repairing, fill and fair as needed (I don't think I need to replace any wood from what I've seen so far) and then repaint the areas. I'm also going to fill the screw holes and re-drill them. The stainless parts just need a good cleanup and one has two holes where it ought to have only one, so I'll get the local metalworking shop to fill that and then grind it flush and polish it a bit.

I'm interested to hear any details of repairs done in this area by other owners. One of the things I noticed is that despite all the mounting screws for the stainless rail being SS, several of them rusted right below the head. Evidently enough moisture and not enough oxygen was present that they could in fact rust. I haven't decided what to put back in there; Sams do have Monel screws, possibly even in the right size, and McMaster have 316 stainless screws, although not with the square-drive Robertson head we all know and love.

I'm also mulling over what to use in the way of epoxy for this repair. Ordinarily I use West system for everything, with whatever additives it needs, but this area gets a fair amount of impact sometimes and I am wondering if FlexPoxy would be better. It cures up but still has a little give to it when it's cured- has anyone used it in this application?

These were last off when she was painted probably 15-16 years ago by Aircraft Refinishers in Cambridge, MD. Says something about their work that I'm doing it now, but I probably should have tackled it last year.

[SKYCHENEY]

The later boats had fiberglass rails. Yachtsmanbill had some made by Tom Slane to replace his.

[Vincentc]

I claim No experience with this particular repair. But based on my use of 2 part epoxy ( Raka) I think West System should be fine. However, best I recall, the standard West, cures harder than the 2/1 epoxy I use.

I would drill out any bad wood, carefully dry the holes with a heat gun, and apply a coat of in thickened epoxy to the warm wood. Follow with a second coat, then fill the holes using epoxy thickened with a mixture of wood flour and cabosil. A large syringe would be helpful to inject. Follow up coat are best applied before the under coat has fully cured. Less than 12 hours.

Good luck,

[bobk]

Jim, I went through this with my 48MY and probably posted on it. Any way, I was convinced that the rails had been damaged by lifting straps. I found water had entered the boat around the mounting bolts and some of the rail had rotted (forward edges where they would not holld paint). I bought a new fiberglass pair from SAMS and had a yard cut them to size and install them. The labor charge was outrageous.

Bobk
atttending the MTOA rendezvous in Daytona

[34Hatt]

P.O of my 34C replaced them with a plastic set it is solid I think he said it was PVC that was 15 years ago so they are now about 18 + years old and still are fine.
No Idea where he got them sorry!

[Cricket]

West Epoxy will be fine, I always tell people to use whatever epoxy they're comfortable with, as there really isn't that much difference in the blending, and also what's easily available. We gave up on the wood, put a set of fiberglass rails on from Slane, they've been great. .