Help!! ROT!!

Dan Faith · Post by **Dan Faith** » Wed May 20, 2009 12:04 pm

Boat is out of the water, on the 30ft I had to take out all the side panels and engine covers to get to the four bolts (two on each side) The floor is at the same height with only four inches to work in. Then there is wood screws with trim rings every six inches, my rails are 9'4" long. Cutting our the new rail involves a taper on the mounting side and rounding the fore and aft portions. There are also a lot of screws on the stainless that have to be taken out to get to the bolts, bolts have to be countersunk. Don't forget to dry fit and predrill and put all screws in first so they can more easily be put in with the limited space. A real knuckle buster. Hopefully yours is not in as difficult position.

jwrape · Post by **jwrape** » Wed May 20, 2009 12:08 pm

Dan Faith wrote:Boat is out of the water, on the 30ft I had to take out all the side panels and engine covers to get to the four bolts (two on each side) The floor is at the same height with only four inches to work in. Then there is wood screws with trim rings every six inches, my rails are 9'4" long. Cutting our the new rail involves a taper on the mounting side and rounding the fore and aft portions. There are also a lot of screws on the stainless that have to be taken out to get to the bolts, bolts have to be countersunk. Don't forget to dry fit and predrill and put all screws in first so they can more easily be put in with the limited space. A real knuckle buster. Hopefully yours is not in as difficult position.

I'm not sure how to get to mine. I'm sure it's not easy since there is dressers and counters mounted to the side wall inside... Prolly not gonna replace it any time soon unless I find out there is a crawl space under there which there might be. I know I can remove my bed to get to my my Gas and water tanks, just never have done it and don't know if there is any moving room under there. One day I will get a wild hair and look.

gjrylands · Post by **gjrylands** » Wed May 20, 2009 8:22 pm

Yes, you have to remove the nuts. There are 5 -6 carriage bolts that are through bolted. You will also find that it is screwed from the inside.
When I replaced mine I had to cut out a piece of plywood that is part of the venting system that was covering one of the bolts. it then needed to be repaired after the new splash rail was installed.
You asked, "Why so much?" This is not an easy job. Working in the bilge is tight. The wood is expensive. I used Honduras Mahogany. To get both rails out of it, it needed to be 6/4 * 8" wide and 12" long. The rail has to be cut, shaped, bedded, bolted, screwed, and painted before the stainless rub rail is mounted.
Dan, you did well to do the job in 2 days. you were lucky that you could use the old one for a template. Did you do the work by yourself, or was someone helping? Add there time in. If the marina charged $60.00/ hr. (Which is low in my area.) charged 30 hrs. the labor would be $1800. Say $200 for materials and your at the $2000 quote.

I can't afford to have the marina work on my boat. I have a hard enough time buying the materials.

Safari · Post by **Safari** » Wed May 20, 2009 8:52 pm

I got my side rails off by breaking the wood apart, then cutting off the bolts. What a deal - I don't think they are spray rails, just bump strips. Either way, I plan on filling the holes, then reinstalling the boot stripe. I looked at several pictures of trojans without them, and really can't see much difference. One less thing for the travel lift to break off....

Dan Faith · Post by **Dan Faith** » Thu May 21, 2009 8:31 am

I worked alone except for a little help in holding the new rail in place while I bolted from the inside. Did as much as possible including put screws in just to make threads this made installation much easier. This was on my F30 sportfisherman and I needed to put the new rails in the bumpers and dock rests in this area unlike my F32 the hull shape is different.

jwrape · Post by **jwrape** » Thu May 21, 2009 8:33 am

Dan Faith wrote:I worked alone except for a little help in holding the new rail in place while I bolted from the inside. Did as much as possible including put screws in just to make threads this made installation much easier. This was on my F30 sportfisherman and I needed to put the new rails in the bumpers and dock rests in this area unlike my F32 the hull shape is different.

The work COULD be done while in the water theoretically though, right? Those rails are above the water line and it would be just getting int he water to pull them off and put them into place. Or do you need a lot of leverage to get them off?

I do want to replace them eventually but don't see myself pulling the boat for another couple years when I re-paint the hull.

Dan Faith · Post by **Dan Faith** » Thu May 21, 2009 9:25 am

They are above the waterline and could be done in the water. You would need someone in the water for the installation of the new rails. I put lifecaulk on the new rails prior to pushing them into place and putting the nuts on the bolts then pulled them up tight. I also painted the rails first then caulked around the rails. My 30 had a gasket under the stainless that you have to stretch to put back in place.

jwrape · Post by **jwrape** » Thu May 21, 2009 9:31 am

Dan Faith wrote:They are above the waterline and could be done in the water. You would need someone in the water for the installation of the new rails. I put lifecaulk on the new rails prior to pushing them into place and putting the nuts on the bolts then pulled them up tight. I also painted the rails first then caulked around the rails. My 30 had a gasket under the stainless that you have to stretch to put back in place.

Ok, good information.
Thanks