Removing those Leaking Rub Rails

This one is in the moderate difficulty but still kind of easy.

Items you’ll need:

A roll of duct tape (come on!)

Drill and drill bits

Cordless drill

Plastic keg cups (2)

Rubber gloves

Epoxy

Catalyst for the temperature

Light fairing additive for the epoxy

Something to mix up the epoxy with

Evercoat blue filler

Random Orbital sander with 150grit paper.

Ok so here is what I did:

First I took off the rails; I used the cordless drill and brought along one of the plastic keg cups to hold all the screws. I started at the front of the boat and worked towards the back but left 2 screws in the middle in the hopes that the rail wouldn’t break if I just went from one end to the other. It worked great, I took all of the screws out from both ends and then went back to the middle, pulled the screws and the wood fell to the ground unharmed. Of course you could just use a second person, but if you don’t have one this should work.

Second I took the drill and a bit one size bigger than the existing holes and drilled all the holes out clean. Then took a dry rag and rubbed clean around each hole on the outside of the boat. Now grab that duct tape and cover each hole, making sure the tape is pushed on hard with your thumb or fingers. Once done head inside and clean any silicone or sealant away from each hole so it won’t get in the way of the epoxy.

Third, time to put on the gloves and mix up some epoxy with the fairing additive to a nice peanut butter thickness in your other plastic keg cup. Not too thick but thick enough to stay where you put it. I then went and fingered epoxy into each hole, trying hard to work any air bubbles out but invariably you can’t get them all. That’s where the blue evercoat filler comes in to play later. Don’t forget to get the left over catalyzed epoxy out of the boat so it doesn’t kick off and cause a fire. Once completed this is what it will look like;

A bit messy but this is the easy way. It may be possible to mask each hole in the inside but I don’t know how! At this point you’ll need to stop yourself from messing with the epoxy and clean up and go home.

Day Two; Take all the duct tape off and check out the results. If you see any air bubbles/voids from the outside mix up some of the blue evercoat filler and work it in to the wholes from the outside. When this is dry (it dries quick!) take your Random Orbital sander and 150 grit paper and sand off all the filler, dirt, blisters, etc… I sanded mine from the ridge up to the gunnels and then will polish it later. Be careful not to sand too hard and go through the gelcoat. If your worried use a higher grit paper and just take your time.

Your done with everything but the cosmetics; I ordered some 1” black vinyl tape and some ¾” flame job pin striping (Same stuff they use on cars) from a place online and I plan on running the 1” tape from bow to stern over the holes and then put the flame pin striping over the black tape. You could use paint here as well, or gelcoat the whole thing again or just live with the holes. I just thought the vinyl would be easy and look good. I’ll post a shot when I’m done of the finished product.