Rubrail repair: Help!

[Jerome Basma]

I've recently purchased a beautiful 1975 Typhoon, and I'm gearing up to do the few minor repairs that it needs. Does anyone have advice on how to repair a section of the rubrail that has come apart from the edge of the boat?

Also, can I screw the rubrail at any point along the edge of the boat without doing damage? And lastly, will the rail be bent back in place without breaking, do you I need to apply some kind of heat to ease it back?

Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Jerome
proud owner of 'IO'



Jbasma@aol.com

[cyrus jordan]

How long a piece, where on the boat, is the toe rail ok, is the wood cracked or has it just pulled away leaving space between it and the fiberglass, are the screws loose, if you look inside is there any evidence that the hull/deck joint is leaking, are the deck and hull intact or cracked, is there evidence that the boat was hit here?

cy jordan



cjordan@together.net

[Jerome]

How long a piece, where on the boat, is the toe rail ok, is the wood cracked or has it just pulled away leaving space between it and the fiberglass, are the screws loose, if you look inside is there any evidence that the hull/deck joint is leaking, are the deck and hull intact or cracked, is there evidence that the boat was hit here?

cy jordan

The detached portion of the rail is about 3 feet. The wood seems to be in pretty good shape, and the screw that at one time was securing the rail to the boat is still snug in the fiberglass. The head of the screw broke out of the wooden rail which is why it's no longer flush with the hull. There probably was an impact, but it didn't leave other traces either inside or outside the boat.

Jerome



Jbasma@aol.com

[cy]

What if you pulled the plug over the screw head, unscrewed the screw, throw in some bedding compound (3M 5200 is very strong) along the length to the separated rail and into the screw hole, put a SS washer on the screw and rescrew ? If the screw hole is stripped, fill it with some epoxy with a syringe, redrill it and then put the screw back in.

cy



cjordan@together.net

[Captain Mike]

The advice from Cy seems very helpful. One small addition is to drill extra fashening holes several inches from the old damaged fashenings. This way enough force can be achieved if the old hole is oversized. The damage is most likely a collision with a dock, small misjudgement of momentum. The length of the separation will determine whether the gumwale can be refashened. The boat might have been sprung which will prevent refastening the gunwale without leaving a gap. If the boat has had it shape permanently altered, the gunwale will have to be unfastened all the way to the bow or stern whichever is closer, before it can be properly attached to the hull. Plug the old and new holes with bungs. Epoxy or adhesive first in the bung holes? Put adhesive between fiberglass and wood. Use wedges to aid in applying the adhesive.

Many happy repairs; Capt Mike

How long a piece, where on the boat, is the toe rail ok, is the wood cracked or has it just pulled away leaving space between it and the fiberglass, are the screws loose, if you look inside is there any evidence that the hull/deck joint is leaking, are the deck and hull intact or cracked, is there evidence that the boat was hit here?

cy jordan

The detached portion of the rail is about 3 feet. The wood seems to be in pretty good shape, and the screw that at one time was securing the rail to the boat is still snug in the fiberglass. The head of the screw broke out of the wooden rail which is why it's no longer flush with the hull. There probably was an impact, but it didn't leave other traces either inside or outside the boat.

Jerome

mattngly@concnetric.net