Leaking rub rail

Teejae · Post by **Teejae** » Sat Sep 01, 2012 1:16 pm

Hi folks,

We have a rub rail that leaks pretty badly in a few spots - starboard bow into the forward cabin and port midships onto the ledge by the settee being the worst. I pulled the shelves and headliner out of the forward cabin to have a look as I thought it might be leaky stanchions, but it's definitely the rub rail. The wood backing was rotted out so I replaced it.

Has anyone done this job before? I'm thinking I will need to pull the whole rub rail off, reseal it in some way, and then put it back together. Any thoughts or insight both on process or where to get parts would be much appreciated.

Thanks,

Teejae

summer storm · Post by **summer storm** » Sat Sep 01, 2012 7:12 pm

I've had mine off, what model Trojan do you have?

ready123 · Post by **ready123** » Sat Sep 01, 2012 10:51 pm

I sealed the top and bottom seam where it meets the hull with 4200 and no more leaks.
The bottom is key...

Teejae · Post by **Teejae** » Sun Sep 02, 2012 2:18 am

I have a 10 meter International mid-cabin.

When you say sealed with 4200 top and bottom, do you mean you ran a bead the full length of the rub rail all the way around with 4200?

Thanks,

Teejae

ready123 · Post by **ready123** » Sun Sep 02, 2012 5:55 am

RWS · Post by **RWS** » Sun Sep 02, 2012 7:23 am

I have the same problem, only no leaks. (yet)

The backing for the rubrail is disentegrating.

wisps of it are constantly falling off.

I tried to seal it with automotive style undercoating.

This worked for a while but not for long

I suspect the only real way to deal with this is to eventually tear everything out (getting to it will NOT be fun) and replacing it all with a thin strip of STARBOARD.

Does anyone know if this is structural or not as in the deck to hull joint structural?

RWS

captainmaniac · Post by **captainmaniac** » Sun Sep 02, 2012 1:37 pm

ready123 wrote:I sealed the top and bottom seam where it meets the hull with 4200 and no more leaks.
The bottom is key...

Depends on the kind of water you will run the boat in. I also sealed mine, but top only. I didn't seal the bottom because if any water does get in behind it (from spray or possibly a bolt that is not bedded well) I wanted to provide a real easy path for the water to get back out again. If you will often take a lot of spray or wave action up the hull, then sealing the bottom may make sense - but any water that DOES get in behind is more likely to find its way into the boat.

yorklyn · Post by **yorklyn** » Sun Sep 02, 2012 2:40 pm

I had been thinking along the same line as captainmaniac. I didn't want to trap water with no way to get out. I never really thought about spray entering from below? Good Point.
Ready123, did you do anything special to the rubber before applying the 4200? How has it been holding up?
I will probably seal the top and bottom and do yearly inspections to repair anything that comes loose. I would rather keep as much water out as possiable.
I thought about using a structal adhesive (plexus) to glue the hull and deck together but didnt think I would be able to get enough material in the joint to be effictive

ready123 · Post by **ready123** » Sun Sep 02, 2012 4:49 pm

yorklyn wrote:Ready123, did you do anything special to the rubber before applying the 4200? How has it been holding up?
I will probably seal the top and bottom and do yearly inspections to repair anything that comes loose. I would rather keep as much water out as possiable.
I thought about using a structal adhesive (plexus) to glue the hull and deck together but didnt think I would be able to get enough material in the joint to be effictive

F32 must be different... I have the plastic wood

rubrail with SS strip on the outside so I am sealing plasticwood to the fibreglass..... no problems over the years.

I did top first and still had water into V berth so I then did underneath and now all is dry.
I guess the waters of Georgian Bay gives me more spray than captainmaniac gets on Ontario... or maybe he is just a fair weather boater

captainmaniac · Post by **captainmaniac** » Mon Sep 03, 2012 9:26 pm

ready123 wrote:I guess the waters of Georgian Bay gives me more spray than captainmaniac gets on Ontario... or maybe he is just a fair weather boater

Or maybe I know how to set my speed and use trim tabs properly given the conditions

yorklyn · Post by **yorklyn** » Mon Sep 03, 2012 9:52 pm

Teejae · Post by **Teejae** » Thu Sep 06, 2012 2:38 am

Thanks everyone - I'll give the 4200 a shot.

Cheers,

Teejae