Hull rub rails or not?

AdrianLM

Hi,

I'm refitting an Elysian 27 at the moment. It had a full set of rub rails (two almost full length lower down on the hull) I have taken them off and I don't intend replacing them. From what I can gather it was common practice to add these to boats which were built for hire, as this one was originally. But I've seen other Elysians with none or just one or one partial. It will probably mean using more fenders, but I can live with that.

Just interested on what your thoughts are on this?

Adrian

fergal.b

Mine was the same an ex-hire boat it had 3 on each side most of them rotten so I made up new ones but just two on each side, the turn into my mooring is quite tight and the pontoon can often get between the fenders so it's handy to have some protection.

AdrianLM

it's handy to have some protection.

It sure is

I couldn't find much info on the topic and I had them taken off when I saw that you had put one of them back on (Another nice bit of work by the way), so that got me wondering again.

Ferris

Same here, ex-hire boat and we replaced the rub rails with (at the time) Wilks aluminium extrusions with a rubber insert. Basically we had numerous leaks from the old rub rails. We removed the wood and metal rail combo and filled the holes with thickened epoxy as she was like Swiss cheese under the old rails. Then we fitted the aluminium sections. We also had a lower wooden batten at the aft quarters which we just removed and repainted. The hull is actually painted so it was relatively easy to hide the old screw holes. If your hull is not painted, and you do not want to paint, the aluminium rails are a good solution, albeit expensive. Sorry for the poor detail on the pic, they look great up close.

AdrianLM

Your boat looks well. Are you based in Knockvicker?

My boat was painted as well, so I didn't have to worry about covering the holes. I countersunk the holes on both sides and filled them with fiberglass and finished the outside with body filler. There was a few extra holes in some sections that had been replaced before.

Ferris

No, based in Albert Lock. Good work on the fiberglass repair, re-introducing some strength is always good rather than just filling the holes with filler. The Elysians are great boats but I never liked the way most had those double rails - your boat will have a much cleaner look without them and it'll be one less think to paint/varnish. Remember that the rails served a function when the boat was on hire. That function is largely redundant now as you presumably know how to drive the boat. Personally I would just invest in some nice new fenders to compliment your new paint job. We use the black ones as they don't show marks/slime/scuffs etc.

AdrianLM

Remember that the rails served a function when the boat was on hire. That function is largely redundant now as you presumably know how to drive the boat. Personally I would just invest in some nice new fenders to compliment your new paint job. We use the black ones as they don't show marks/slime/scuffs etc.

Will do, thanks for the advice.