bertram31.com

Thinkin about replacing my old rub rail this winter... any suggestions. My yard admiral says I can help remove the old one & save $..
also a paint job on the hull.. Got the house & all points above gelcoated 4 yrs ago..
appreciate any comments guys ..
Wayne

Save your money.

Alex Whitaker, 31 Bertram Specialities -- Pretty much right in your backyard...

Thanks guys.. Just talked to him.. hes near LA. sounds good.
Wayne

Wayne:

I've been wanting to redo my rub rail too, and Alex and his group have given me a great price on a new one, but it's a major undertaking and expensive. My mechanic was working on the boat recently and I told him I was thinking about replacing the rail. He looked at me like I was crazy and said, "How many more fish you gonna catch with a purty rub rail?"

So far, I have followed Brewster's advice.

JB

My rail is old looking and scratched up. But it is fine. I just think there are many other things to spend money on for the boat.

John,

It wasn't nearly as bad as I expected it to be. Maybe my perspective is skewed due to all the stuff I have done to the boat over the years, but it is really not as bad as I thought it would be.

For looks inprovement, it is one of the biggest things you can do for the least amount of money. An amazing difference to me. On EVERY boat I have seen the change done on. It just looks cleaner, better, and overall, a big difference.

The biggest difference it has made is that the black streaks you get from the aluminum oxidation coming off the old factory rail is greatly reduced. So if you get prominent streaking, what is there already gets easier to clean and much of it never appears any more. I still get black streaks, but it is from dirty rain. Not the rail itself any more.

Hey, I get it if you don't decide to do it. But it is a good worthwhile project to do. I can think of many others where I have just looked at it and said...hmmm. Maybe I'll wait a little longer. Like glassing in the windshield. Worth doing, but that is a huge project!!!!

Food for thought.

D

The other nice benefit to replacing the old rail was being able to seal the seam properly. It used to rain in the vee berth. Not any more.

Bought mine from Hi tide in the keys, fairly straight forward, follow the Capt post,dry fit, rough cut the excess length of the stern and use these pieces to determine
the compound miters on the corners, after u have the sides pre fitted, stand back and see if you like the fit in relation to the lines of the boat, some minor alignment may be necessary , once satisfied, tape off top and bottom to protect from excess adhesive and also give u a reference or registration to do the final attachment, messy, the Capt recommended a 3m product for the adhesive( 66 , I think) lots of gloves, rolls of paper towels and thinner to clean up, through bolted all joints on vinyl and stainless rail , if you are going to paint the new rail, tape off down the center if doing different colors and apply paint prior to installation, inevitably you will bump something and when u do u will hopefully not have a multiple color bruise

Sikaflex 291, I believe.

I had my old one painted black years ago, Imron over the alum. primer and its lasted real well....I touch it up now and then with some auto touch-up paint in the little glass bottle. All the nay-sayers that said it would bubble up and chip off were wrong. And it increased my hook up rate by 87.6%.

And most importantly, I like a black rail and it be my f**king boat.

UV

first three years i had the boat there was a nasty leak in the corner of the v-berth . that oem. fur was soaking wet and smelled of mildew .with the old rub rail off i sealed the seam with epoxy and additive. the v-berth is dry as a bone!!! i really through it was the windshield but mike was right;the seam of the old rub rail allows water into the v-berth.

Wayne,

I got one from alex when I did the overhaul on my 31. I am really pleased with the rubrail.

Peter