Sailfish rail repair

[bhm]

While generally in good condition, the side-rails on my new-to-me 1962 Super Sailfish are loose and need to be re-mounted. On one side the screw-holes are entirely stripped out (seller's picture below), and on the other side the rail is also pretty wobbly by woodworking standards.

I have lots of Marine-tex left over from hull repair on my Minifish, so I'm thinking that should work here as well, i.e. take out all the screws on both sides and fill the holes with Marine-tex (maybe drilling the holes out a bit if that seems necessary to get it all the way down on the non-stripped side). So (a) is that a good plan, and if not, what is better? And (b) if so, should I let it set and then drill fresh holes, or just push the screws in while it's still soft and let it set around them, as I saw described for a similar screw-stripped-out-in-fiberglass video on-line, when I first googled 'Marine-tex'.

Thanks for any advice on this.

 

[signal charlie]

You can poke around and see if there are any remnants of the wooden blocks left, and if so fill them as you mentioned. Let it set then drill pilot hole.

I'm not against trying a plastic drywall anchor in the hole. I'd avoid metal as it will quickly become a rusty mess.

 

[Sailflow]

Does the boat rattle when you turn it over?

 

[bhm]

Ah, I didn't realize these rails had backer blocks, like I've read about for the bow handles -- since the rails are so close to the edge, I had assumed that the screws just went into the fiberglass somehow. I've only turned the boat over once, to take a picture of the hardware on the bottom, but I think I did hear a loose block sliding around. I'm charging up my fiber-optic endoscope now, and I'll have a look inside tomorrow, and post some pics.

 

[signal charlie]

Sailfish guts. (Image credit: I don't know but Skipper has a few things she'd like to say to them...)

Someone in the past has suggested flipping the boat upside down and injecting a thick adhesive into the hole, like thickened epoxy. Being upside down would minimize opportunity for the adhesive to run away from the hole while it cures. If you try to install while wet, the adhesive would just be pushed away. But it is questionable as to how much a blob of Marine Tex would hold, or 4 blobs...it might look good cosmetically but not hold structurally.

Other thoughts, the fiberglass is thin, 1/8th inch or less, compared to thick fiberglass found on a power boat. That is why a backer is needed, to spread the load.

 

[bhm]

Thanks. That explains the video I saw of somebody putting Marine-tex directly into a fiberglass screw-hole: it was on a power boat, not a Sunfish.

Unfortunately the bend is too sharp for the Sailfish drain hole at the bow; I can't get my endoscope around the bend and into the hull cavity the way I did for my Minifish through its midships drain hole. And without eyes inside, I have no chance of getting the loose backer block back into place.

But maybe I can still cinch up the blocks that are still hanging loosely on the screws. What is the configuration of these blocks, on each side? I.e. one long 4-screw block, or two 2-screw blocks, or a separate block for each of the 4 screws? It seems like only the middle case makes any sense, i.e. two 2-screw blocks, so one screw can hold it in place while you mess with the other screw-hole. So if one of my 2-screw blocks has fallen down on the bad side, maybe I can still cinch up the other one.

 

[signal charlie]

One screw block per screw, they were usually glued in place. FYI the factory would have been to split the deck/hull seam enough to reach inside and replace the block.

 

[bhm]

So everything depends on how many of my original eight backing blocks are still glued in place, and how strong that 60-year old glue still is? I.e. whether it can sustain the torque of re-setting the screws, after re-filling the holes from above the deck with Marine-tex?

 

[signal charlie]

Yes.
Yes.
And what condition the blocks are. Some we have found completely rotten and others still in good shape.

You may be able to take a paper clip and put a little right angle bend on it, stick it inside the hold and see if there is still some block there.

Another option is to drill a test hole, 1/8th inch, next to the old hole. See if wood shavings come out on the but or if it feels like you drilled into a hollow.

 

[bhm]

Thanks. I have lots of wire of different sizes to bend probes from so I'll try that method first. Seems like a test hole is just making more work, since I presume that these test holes in the deck would all need to be individually patched with Marine-tex afterward?

So now I can go ahead and take these rails off, which I've been postponing for fear that the screws are holding up the blocks, like people talk about for the bow handles. But now that I know it's only one screw per block, the other thing to worry about is that maybe for some of the blocks the glue has come loose while the block is still sound, so when I try to back out the screw, the block will just turn around. Though I suppose they must be close enough to the hull so that they can't turn freely like this, even if the glue has come loose.

 

[bhm]

Luckily my wire probe detected solid wood at the bottom of seven of the eight screw-holes, and even the eighth one still had enough other stuff nearby to provide a backstop for the Marine-tex filler. Thanks for the advice on this.

Now that the holes are patched I will probably leave the original rails off unless I decide to sell the boat. I plan to mount a second aluminum crossbar with gunwhale clamps aft of the daggerboard, to brace a kayak seat, and if I still want side-rails in addition to that it will probably be easier just to lay down some new wood straps between the two crossbars, to complete an enclosed rectangle where stuff won't slide off the deck.