Cheap alternative for rubrails. anyone have some good ideas?

[calvinbabb]

I just bought a cheap Renken boat a 19' and going to gut it, replace the floor, and open up the front to make a open fishing boat. going to make my own center console but the rub rail has me a little baffled, as far as a replacement anyway. Have looked at the conventional replacement rail but they are a little pricey. anyone have any alternatives that will look nice and serve the purpose. Thought about rope rail but trying to figure out a cradle for it to sit in to look nice and the adhesive to keep it in place one i figure out the cradle. I've redone a few boats but this will be the first time I've had to cut cost and going so deep into a remodel.

 

[sphelps]

I used rope and set inside my existing aluminum channel . Got a video how I did it .
Holding up pretty good so far ..only thing about rope on a fishing boat is fish hooks may get caught from time to time .

 

[calvinbabb]

yea, that crossed my mind about the hooks. the channel that is on the boat now is crushed in places and has been pieced together in a few places. it is a option. did you used epoxy to hold it to the channel?

 

[StarTed]

I'm facing the same problem. My boat, a '63 Starcraft has an aluminum channel that is about 7/8" inside and doesn't fit current product offerings due to the pop rivets used on top are set back further than current manufactured trim will cover.

I'm seriously considering using PEX tubing. Either 1" slit and snapped over the top flange of the channel with screws holding it in at existing holes or 2 3/4" pieces parallel that are slit and over both flanges held on by screws through fabricated clamps made from aluminum or ss.

The problem at the moment is how to slit the PEX tubing in a straight line. Maybe a long 2X4 grooved on a table saw with the tubing glued in with hot melt glue. Still open for suggestions.

I like the color options with PEX tubing. I'd prefer green but blue and red are considerations that are readily available. A problem with PEX might be the expansion rate.

Hope some of these ideas might work.

 

[sphelps]

https://youtu.be/faWHJk33Tn4 Here is a link to how I installed mine ..

 

[calvinbabb]

https://youtu.be/faWHJk33Tn4 Here is a link to how I installed mine ..

Yes, I had looked at that as well as https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRTBlsgP68g I wasn't able to salvage the aluminum so am considering using 1" X2" oak and cut a grove in it for the rope to set in and then epoxy it in. using 1" natural rope.

 

[sphelps]

I like the idea of the channeled out oak .. Make sure you post how you do it here ..May do something like that on my Manatee project ...

 

[calvinbabb]

I like the idea of the channeled out oak .. Make sure you post how you do it here ..May do something like that on my Manatee project ...

The fun part will be making the turns around the bow and stern. will have to steam it to make the turns.

 

[Chris legros]

New member, long time reader. Just wanted to chime into this topic since I ran into this same issue on a restoration I'm working on. I ended up finding "cable protector channels". They are dense rubber much like a factory rubber rail would be. The one I decided on is 1.5" wide and around .75" tall. Also it's grey, which works since that is going to be what I paint it. Total it was $50 for 30 feet. Just enough for my little Avalon 146 I'm restoring.