IMHO, vinyl is not a structural replacement and adds too little reinforcement to an essential fiberglass edge where even partial failures could lead to very difficult repairs.In theory, the vinyl cockpit trim is great - but it is difficult to get it to stay adhered to the cockpit lip - glues just don't like to stick to the vinyl. I used to have a 1983 Sunfish with the metal trim, and a few rivets came loose. Instead of riveting it back on, I removed the rivets and glued the trim on. It was a long time ago, but I think I used something called Goop, or Marine Goop - it seemed to be a combination of silicone and something that smelled like Duco model airplane glue. It never did come loose, and it is still glued in place - I know the current owners of the boat. 5200 might hold it in place too - anyway, that is my reco - the aluminum trim glued on.
I'd use something less compressible, yet disposable—like water-soaked thin wooden skewers from stores like Dollar Tree, Jo-Ann's, Wal-Mart, or craft stores."...If you could pack the trim groove with something
flexible like a rubber strip it may help with the kinking problem somewhat..."
Try Craigslist-gb. Ya never know!Thanks for all the suggestions! It might not be practical to ship a pre-formed cockpit-shaped hoop of trim as it would be a pretty large and delicate parcel. I am going to see what Alan thinks (That is, if he has any) Otherwise packing the trim before bending sounds like good tip and I can practice with some of the old trim I am taking off. Something like those lollypop-stick/tongue-depressors might work well for the packing. Annealing sounds a bit daunting and perhaps has the downside of weakening the trim. Worth a try though. I might end up doing it at least for the trim around the bow as that is the place one where I care more about it looking good than being strong ;^)
While it's not the boat in question, my ex-racer's cockpit is surrounded by a hopeless number of spider cracksThe trim is not structural for bonding the tube to deck but does stiffen
the over-hang for things such as grabbing the lip when getting out of
of the water or transporting/moving the boat. Does it stiffen the deck
when you sit on it? Most of the damage is transporting and storing
so that would be my guess has to how it broke. Is the deck around
the cockpit have spider-web cracks?
1) You may find that stretching the old aluminum trim a little might make it bend easier. (That works with silver wire, anyway).I tried it! ...Unfortunately neither Craigslist nor Sunfish ever really caught on over here :^( The other source you mentioned isn't willing to ship outside the US. Thanks for all the advice guys. lots to think about. I am going to do a bit of experimental trim-bending with the old stuff I am taking off. Depending how that goes I may decide on vinyl for the cockpit after all.