Tuesday, October 5, 2021

Refitting the Rubrail

Refitting the Rub Rail on our Catalina 34

Pic from Ohana
If we brush up against a piling when docking, occasionally, the Rub Rail Vinyl extrusion will pop out of the Aluminum track and form a loop that just wants to get bigger.

First time this happened I spent hours trying to get it back in place, but now have the process down so that it only takes a few minutes.

If the 'Loop' is close to the Stern then it should be moved gradually towards the Bow and if it's near to the Bow, then the 'Loop' should be moved gradually towards the Stern.


Here's how to 'move the loop'

Basically the Vinyl rub rail has stretched, it's Vinyl, of course it stretches. The trick is compress the 
vinyl as it is moved.

Let's imagine that the Vinyl has popped out several feet from the stern on the Port Side.

Start by pushing the aft most edge of the loop back into the aluminum track and the Pushing will compress the vinyl just a small amount. As the aft end of the loop is compressed and pushed back into the track, most likely the forward end of the loop will come out of the track, just a bit, but that's ok, it's not pulling out and stretching, it's just easing out of the track.

Inch by Inch, continue to press the aft end of the loop into the track and pushing that edge towards the stern and thus compressing the vinyl a little more. Again some of the leading edge of the loop will pop out of the track, don't worry. As this process is repeated, the size of the loop will diminish, eventually, it will be such a small loop that both the front and stern edges of the loop will be able to be compressed and pushed back into the track. 

Having done this several times now, I'm able to reinsert a significant loop back into the track in less than 20 mins. 

To get the Vinyl back into the track, I get the lower edge of the vinyl into the track first and then push down on the upper edge of the vinyl to force it into the track, all the while pushing the vinyl to compress it towards the end that I started from.

Hope this works for you.

See you on the water.


1 comment:

Got questions or suggestions about our boat, our sailing or our adventures?
Leave a comment.

Thanks.