[Public-list] rub rail

[George Dinwiddie]

Patty,

First, let me discourage you from giving up rafting "ever again."
If you do you'll miss out on some of the most wonderful experiences.
It is true that rafting can be dangerous, but so can many other maneuvers
on a boat.  The trick is to develop the skills to perform the maneuvers
safely, or to recognize when you can't.

Second, call your insurance company.  The reason for having insurance is
to help out in unfortunate circumstances.

Now, to the damage itself:

Is the damage to your rub-rail (on the outside of the hull, and not on
most A30s) or the toe-rail (on the outer edge of the deck over the
hull-deck joint)?

In either event, splintered wood is very difficult to repair and
splintered teak even more so, so the damaged section will need to be
replaced.  Replacing the entire piece or scarfing in a piece to replace
just the damaged portion is a choice that you make based on cost,
esthetics, and available woodworking skills.

Knowing my own woodworking skills, I would probably contract the job to
someone with more experience.  Of course, neither teak nor wood-working
skills come cheap, but the end result would likely be worth it.  Also,
see the comments about insurance, above.

Assuming that it's the toe-rail that was damaged, I would inspect it
closely while the teak is off.  This is not a place where you want a
leak.  At the very least I would advise replacing the rivets with
through-bolts while you have the opportunity.

 - George


On Tue, Jul 06, 2004 at 09:59:43AM -0500, Patty J wrote:
> My brother tried to raft up along side my boat during the 4th fireworks.
> We both had out very large fenders as protection.  However, we were
> paralell to the wave action due to tide.  A wave turned his boat so far
> over at one point that when it came back up his metal rub rail hit mine
> and the "crack" that we heard was louded and more startling than any of
> the fireworks.   We quickly abandoned the idea of rafting ever again and
> let brother David go anchor somewhere else.  Anywho, it's about a 3 foot
> crack starting from the end of the jib track forward and then forward.
> No fiberglass damage, just wood.  Anyone ever repair something like this
> and how?  I would really appreciate some help.  I looked on the Alberg
> web site under everything, but perhaps I overlooked it.
> 
> Thanks,
> Patty Johnson
> Timbuktu #461   

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