Plastic Classic Forum

hi all.

i would love to get your opinions/advice. there is a simple metal rub rail on my 1962 triton. it is pretty crappy looking. i have attached a photo. i kind of just want to remove it, then fill and smooth the screw holes. leaving no rub rail at all. not sure where i will paint to without the rub rail though. i saw a beautiful triton in my harbor this summer that had no rub rub rails at all, it's topsides were white which would eliminate the questions of where to bring the topside paint color up to. what do you all think?
are there structural issues with the hull to deck joint that i should pay attention to?
does a tiny metal rub rail really do anything productive in the performance of the boat?
and, although i do kind of like the look of a wooden toe rail, i am not adding more varnish work to the boat. period.


thanks all,

carter

Hi Carter,

As far as I know, there is no structural purpose to that metal half oval. The hull-deck joint is secured by tabbing on the inside of the hull.

However, the hull and deck do have a butt-joint, of which the seam is covered up by that rail. So you would have more than holes to fill if you removed it - there would also be a seam (crack). This is covered by the tabbing on the inside and that rail on the outside.

I don't suppose the rail does a whole lot to protect the boat, given its size, although of course it does more than no rail.

You could put a stripe or something there to help hide the filled-in seam and to break the color line.

Rachel

With a little care, and a smooth, well-filled seam, there's no reason you can't get a clean, even tape line between hull and deck paints and leave it as is. That crummy SS rubrail does little but hide the old seam while looking cheesy doing it.

Personally, I'd prefer something be at the seam to highlight the sheer of the boat and provide needed definition (of course I'd choose varnished wood), but it's certainly possible to leave it bare as you suggest,if you prefer.

I think that seam area is WAY too high for a stripe. You'd have to fill the seam smoothly and well if you don't want to hide it beneath some sort of trim.

Carter,

When I painted the deck/cockpit/cabin of my 1959 Triton, I filled in the hull/deck joint and painted over it. Yes, my topsides are white, which did make thinks easier. I still tried to mask a fair line below the covered joint so the paint line wouldn't look too bad. I had originally thought I would need to put a layer or two of glass tape over the joint but that did not turn out to be necessary. I've never gotten around to reinstalling the stainless rub rail, but I don't think it would have prevented any of the dings to the toe rail that have occurred since.

Here's one recent pic, although it's not really a close-up:



Mark

I agree with Tim that that seam area is probably too high for a pleasing stripe. Unless maybe it were a top thin stripe of some larger overall striping scheme that extended lower on the topsides. But by then you would probably be taking the "easy" way of making a stripe and carrying it so far that it would be a lot of work and then you might as well do it right from the start, and make an aesthetically pleasing plan.

Trying to do things the easy way on boats often seems to end up making it as hard as the "hard" way and not as satisfying (I'm sure I'm not the first person to notice that).

Another possibility would be an un-coated teak rail, with the original or a brass half oval on the outside edge. That would give a real rub rail benefit.

In the end I would think that removing the rail, filling the holes and seam, fairing, and painting would be the next most "simple" thing to just leaving it as-is.

Rachel

I've been impressed with 2 layers of biax over the heart pine rub rails on Noel. I've had her laying on a piling every low tide since last thanksgiving... (gotta be able to step on and off at high tide, so she's tied tight...)

So far, the biax and epoxy has worn a groove in the piling. I'm leaving off the stainless rub rail... (160 feet, and to many screw holes to rot out all that new work...)

Zach

thanks for all the info. not sure where i am leaning but Tim's pics, as always, are so alluring. the danger is that i won't be able to do quite as nice a job on a tape line.

which leads to a point along what rachel was saying. that there are easier and harder ways to do things, but that they are all relative. Tim's method of taping off the topside color looks really great, and is easy if you have the skill, but if done with less skill will look awful in a very noticeable way. not that i might not try, just saying.


anyway, mostly pointless ramble aside, here is the boat in Bristol harbor that i thought looked really good. it is a screen grab i made from a video i took while sailing past about 2 months ago.