After 41 years and several rock and roll raft up's, the rub rails on my WC Triton were ready for replacement. I didn't want rubber again and I try to keep away from wood on the outside of the boat that which requires maintenance (like how do you get out of any kind of boat maintenance?)

While replacing my rails I learned more about the process used during the early building of the west coast boats. Mainly, the hull to deck fitting. It sucks. The deck was built with a lip that would rest on the lip of the hull - not an uncommon method. What they did was coat the lips with resin, set them on each other, then applied fiberglass to the inside (at least where they could reach which is not every where because of the liner.) The lips were then covered with a rubber rub rail. The deck was held to the hull with at best, 2 layers of fiberglass inside. There seemed to be a lack of understanding during the early years fiberglass boat building on just how storng resin and glass was.

While sailing in sloppy conditions common during the summer months, I often would have water on the cabin sole and could never figure out exactly where it was coming from. What happened over the years was, the resin originally applied between the 2 lips had crystallized and broke away leaving many large cracks. These cracks could not be seen as they were covered by the rub rail. My guess is that when I buried the rail, the cracks opened up even more allowing large amounts of water to enter. When I removed the rub rail the cracks and lack of a sealant and adequate fasteners was obvious.

In replacing the rails, I decided to beef up the hull to deck joint and use a new age material, plastic (actually its a resin impregnated with something) for the rails (which should be very appropriate for a Plastic Classic ;-) a. Along the lip, I countersunk 1/4" SS flat head bolts, 3/4" long, and nuts every 18 inches. Modern day boats designed to go around the world in worse conditions generally place the bolts every 4 to 6 inches but I'm not going around the world. b. To cover the lip and fasteners, I used a new product produced for decking called Nexwood. It comes in a varity of colors and will sun bleach over time so I used gray. It is sold in 12', 16' and 20' lengths at the local lumber yard. It cuts like wood, fastens like wood sands like wood and is very easy to work with. It is built with 3 hollow chambers which provides strenght when used on a deck. c. I ripped the two ends off leaving a 3/4" inside depth over the majority of the rail then tapered the stem end down to 1/4". Using the 16' length, I ended up with one joint (cut at a 45 degree angle) slightly aft of the beam. d. After grinding the lips down slightly to 3/4" or less, I installed the rail dry to verify the fit. e. I then taped above and below the rail, removed and flooded each rail with 3M 5200 (2 large tubs for each side) then clamped and screwed them to the boat using broad head screws. f. I returned to the boat in a week, removed the tape and replaced the the broad head fasteners with counter sunk #8 x 1" SS flat head machine screws. I was going to bung each screw but decided to allow the screws to show for now. If I don't like the looks, I can always hide them later (actually everyone that came by to offer their supervision during the work like them exposed ;-)

I still have the stern to complete however, it will have to wait as I'm running out of time with my Fall cruise schedule so it will get the bolts for now and I'll finish it later.

Is the deck/hull joint more secure? YES; Did it solve the problem of water on the cabin sole? YES; Will Nextwood last? We'll see.

256rubrail

256rubrail

Ripping Nexwood into 2 rails

Fitting the fwd rail

256rubrail

256rubrail

Fitting the aft rail

Broad head screws to secure during cure

256rubrail

256rubrail

Starboard curing, Port in process

Finished - Bow

256rubrail

256rubrail

Finished - Aft

Transom - Bolted