I’m looking for suggestions as I am planning to have the topsides painted:
My Nonsuch 33 has its original teak rubstrakes with screwed on stainless facings.
The the teak is currently bare wood with some checks. Some of the screws fastening the stainless facing are loose in their holes. There is evidence on the inside of the hull that water has penetrated at some of the rail to hull fasteners.
Do I:
Remove the rub strake and seal up the fastener holes? This has the final result of no rub strake.
Remove the rub strake and refasten with new sealer at each fastener hole, then repair the holes in the wood for the stainless facing screws and reattach the stainless facing?
Remove the rub strake and replace with the Hamilton Marine 366R PVC and then cover with the original stainless facing?
Remove the rub strake and replace with the Hamilton Marine 366R PVC without any additional facing?
The teak rub rails on my C26 -1985 are spongy.
I’m planning on using 1258-R from Hamilton marine.
Hole spacing appears to be uniformly 8"
Current plan is to take the old rail off, reconfirm spacing, predrill 1/2 inch counter bore, then drill out the 1/4" hole for each screw on my drill press.
Remount with sealant at each screw then insert DWP-50B-B bung material (sold in 4’ lengths in black and 5’ lengths in white)
Finally screw on the stainless as added protection and appearance.
I need an elfin helper in the lazarettes at the stern. Port interior clear except for removing the trim in the Veeberth, stbd. need to remove 12 v panels, trim in vee and work in the head lockers.
Shipping to the yard (2 miles from home) is half the price of residential delivery. I can get the 20 ft pieces back and forth on my pickup…30 footers will be a problem.
Ward, I would, and did vote for #3. I purchased grey #366-R and matching bung material. Had it shipped directly to the boatyard and I installed the rail inverted from the picture shown to shed water better and still give the same protection. The stainless strake gives substantial additional protection by dispersing point loads and protects against scratching or chipping, and covers the bungs (looks great too). I had no problem by installing the rail by drilling on site from the inside out through existing hole as a guide and then countersinking the outside to accept the washer, nut, and bung. I used plenty of caulk at each hole and the surrounding area after drilling but before the bolt , washer and nut was installed ( I drilled several hole with the bolts in place temporarily, advanced the drilled holes, then went back and caulked several at a time while working down the hull, cleaning up the squeeze out as I went). Later I went back and again caulked the hole and inserted the bung. I have not as of yet had any leaking at the bolts. The rail has protected my topsides on numerous occasion and has been well worth the effort to replace the old wooden which was having some dry rot deterioration from water getting in at the screw hole from the stainless strake. I would recommend it.
Steve Currier
'86 N 36 #41
Caper
Thames Yacht Club
New London, Ct.
Joe: That may be confusing to new members of the INA or discussion list users. Might I suggest using the ones we’ve been using for over 15 years – N26C NS26U etc.
Thanks,
Joe Valinoti
S/V iL Gatto NS30U #221
Sea Harbour YC
Oriental, NC USA
I would suggest that you take the rub rail of. Then get a moisture meter and check if the core of your hull has been compromised by the intake of water through the rub rail mounting holes. If so, cut the skin away and replace (or ignore…).
What I would do next is glass shut all the holes like they’ve never been there. Then I would paint the hull. When done you can decide to replace (any) rub rail or leave as is.
If you choose to re install a rub rail it’s much easier to start from scratch and drill new holes. Or take another route and glue the whole thing on.
I don’t have them, but if I did, I would remove them. However, since they are about 2 inches thick, why can’t you use the old bent nail trick to clean out the wet core and then repair it.
Joe Valinoti
S/V iL Gatto NS30U #221
Sea Harbour YC
Oriental, NC USA
Yes, I agree. I used “bent nail” as a generic term for the process. I also should have added that the dimension of the rail should hide any routing out work that is done unless it’s really bad as that one photo showed.
Joe Valinoti
S/V iL Gatto NS30U #221
Sea Harbour YC
Oriental, NC USA
A hole saw from the inside works really well and leaves the skin untouched. You can start with a small one and use a fender washer that will cover the epoxy area or if that doesn’t get all the rot out you can go bigger and add a little glass over the epoxy fill. The hole in the skin remains to guide the drill bit in the hole saw. The advantage is that you can really see what you’ve got in terms of getting back to clean core.
So it all depends on what has leaked where and for how long. Because in my case, a hole saw was not going to cut it.
I started out with the piece I’m holding in the pic but the hole got bigger and bigger…
Just to join in and provide an illustration. Stuff happens, and it happened that the recent passage of Isaias caused the port bow line to part and my boat rubbed hard against a piling for a while. The stainless strip was ripped out and the rubber or PVC strip was compressed/abraded/folded. But it did its job: no damage to the hull, the rubrail did not tear, and in a bit of luck the stainless was still holding on by one screw and not on the bottom. Other boats had the full range of more damage to none at all and our docks were damaged in what was reported to be pretty violent conditions overnight. So since my hindsight is excellent, I wish I had … well, you know the options. I have now filled the old holes, reattached the rubrail, and straightened and reattached the stainless. Looks pretty good and is only noticeable with close examination.
The material on my boat is somewhat different than what is mentioned above since it projects out from the hull a full two inches. There are different opinions on looks, but this is a testimonial that I am really glad to have rubrails on my boat.
One of the best feature about our boats is the Sampson post forward. I’ve visited a number of Nonsuches and noticed that most people don’t use them but tie there bowlines to the provided cleats and going through the chocks first. Depending on the angle, this will lead to more wear on those lines as opposed to being attached to the Sampson post which, in most cases, the lines will run more fair. If you absolutely have to use the cleats, criss-cross the lines to eliminate the 90 deg and worse angles.
Joe Valinoti
S/V iL Gatto NS30U #221
Sea Harbour YC
Oriental, NC USA
This may sound “silly” but how do you really know how deep or far to dig when opening up an area that may have wet core ?? That does sound silly. I mean, what is your guide - do you dig out an area that looks sufficient and then use a metre or a sounding hammer ? Or do you just keep digging until things "seem dry’ or “look dry” ? Even sillier … HOW dry - BONE dry ??
