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Hey guys,
What are the pros and cons of painting the rub rail? What are the effects that a person is looking for? Our boat is prepped and waiting for the wind to stop blowing so she can be sprayed. We're going with aqua mist on the hull, and, snow white from the rub rail up.
Many thanks.
John.

John,

In my estimation, there are no cons to painting the PVC guard rail. The pros include the ability to fair in the transom corners and the under side of the bow section. In addition, without paint the PVC is going to oxidize and be an ongoing maintenance problem. Paint the lower half with your hull color and the upper half with your superstructure color and re-install the ss rub rail and you'll be the cat's ass.

Capt. Patrick,
In the corners, where the side rails meet the transom piece, how do you bond the two pieces together? Would hull stress cause the joint to crack? What do you prime the rail with before painting with Alwgrip? Anything else that I forgot to Mention?
Thanks alot, Capt Patrick.
John.

John,

The mitered corners, in addition to the main screws holding the guard rail to the hull, should have screws joining the two pieces of the corner.



After fitting the screws, remove them, open the joint, add either thickened epoxy or Awlfair, and replace the screws. When fitting the ss rub rail, use a full section, centering it in the middle of the transom. Install the screws from the center outward and wrap the rub rail around the corners. This all locks the corners of the guard rail completely. The PVC guard rail corners should be radiused so that the ss rub rail doesn't fold, but smoothly follows the radius...

Sand the PVC with 180 grit and prime with 545 Awlgrip epoxy primer.

Looks like we're going to have twins...

Capt. Patrick,
I got everything that you said, but, the part about the corners. Do you fasten the two pieces together with a screw or two? or do you screw each piece directly to the hull right at the corner only?
Thanks for your patience.
John.

John, I also drilled 1/4 holes every six inches and used sika flex with a heavy caulking gun, pumped it into the middle of the three holes until the sika oozed out of the other two, then I moved down and repeated process. My guard rail is essentially filled with sika flex, I made sure the corners were filled. The sika flex did fill the slight gap at the mitres and joints along the way. I love the look of the painted guard rail, makes it look seamless and like Capt Pat said you get to fair the gaps between the hull and guard rail. A true custom touch..BH

I think I get it now. I'm trying to get in contact with the painter asap.
Thanks again, guys.
John.

Thanks Danny McKinney for explaningPat's pics to me. Between you and Stanges, I'd be lost. You guys are great.
Thanks.
John.