Fixing a leak under rub the rail?

F

Fred P

Member
I found a leak under the aluminum rub rail between the deck and hull. I don't want to remove the rail and the leak is out of reach inside the hull via the rear inspection port. I'm thinking of just putting sealant as far under the rub rail as possible, extending to the pop rivets on either side of the leak point.
Any advice will be appreciated.

Fred
 
Fred,

Smearing sealant around the leaking area and the alum. rub strip may work but the split/leaking area at the joint of the deck and hull will probably just get worse over time. Remove the section of alum. rub strip by carefully drilling out the pop rivets with a drill bit a little larger than the dimeter of the rivet, find the leak and spread it a little with a screw driver or two, mix up some thickened epoxy resin, apply the thickened resin liberally to the leaking area, clamp the area (spring clamps work well but small "C" clamps will also suffice), wipe off the run-out with a rag and a little acetone, let the resin cure, sand or file the edge smooth and re-attach the rub rail. As complicated as this may sound, it is propably less than an hour's work all told. You will end up with a true repair rather than a temporary patch. You may also find other leak under other parts of the rub strip that you didn't know about which you can also repair at the same time.

Alan Glos
Cazenovia, NY
 
Fred P said:
I found a leak under the aluminum rub rail between the deck and hull. Any advice will be appreciated.

Fred
Click to expand...


Geeze - don't you people ever learn? The way to go fast is SAIL IT FLAT.

If you sail flat the water will never get near the crappy piece of aluminum trim that either Al or Cort thought would serve some useful purpose like actually stopping leaks or maybe it was just to make the product look glitzy in the 1950s after all these were the days of fin tail cars or maybe somebody's brother-in-law had just bought a load of aluminum strip and needed to unload it but in any case the aforementioned piece of aluminum strip just serves to make the boat look cheap and oocasionally if it comes loose to tear your shorts and expose bare flesh to the other sailors that will cause them to choke and let you cross them on port unless you are a hottie female in which case those dirty old guys Al and Cort are probably grinning in their graves but never mind 'cos if you don't sail it flat the boat will fill up with water and then the weight of the water will keep the boat upright but when you try and haul the boat up the beach you will break your dollie and then the guys at Vanguard will be happy 'cos you will have to buy some new bits and maybe you will even see sense and realise that Sunfish with aluminum trim were made in the last millenium forgodsake so don't be cheap go out and buy a new 'fish and help the US economy so the Republicans will get re-elected and keep America safe for guns and gaybashing and jesus freaks.

Oops - sorry - got carried way. That Goslings Rum sure is strong.
 
geezer how do you do it? everytime i think you have reached your peak and you just get better and better!!!
 
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