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Bertram31.com General Bulletin Board
Re: New rubrail pictures. *LINK* *PIC*
Posted By: Chiles In Response To: Re: New rubrail is on. (Sean Burlingham)
Date: Thursday, 14 October 2004, at 11:45 a.m.
Sean,
Even if you have to use a sawz-all to cut the bolt head off at an angle (several B25 owners have done that) I think this was the single best thing that improved the outside appearance of my boat other then the radar arch. Several owners have painted theirs and for the time it would take, I would just replace it. I dreaded this job for 5 months. It only took me 5 hours. What was I so worried about? Get your screwdriver out and remove the back stern corner just to see what you are getting into.Here is my tip for doing it fast and I hope, correct. You need three drills. One with a driver bit for the screws, one for drilling the holes and one for putting in the counter sink hole in the PVC. I could not find a countersink with a bit the correct size for the #10 x 2" screws that I asked Bertram to provid with the kit.
Remove the old. Like I said, mine was all screws except for two thru bolts that were right under the spring cleats. Even they came right out with a little pulling pressure on the rail since all other screws were already out. No wrench on the inside needed. Next, I dug out the old caulk between the joint where it was loose, wiped down with acetone and refilled the gap along with all the old screw holes with 3M 4000 (or was it 4200) sealant. I elected NOT to use the old holes. We laid each piece out and marked where we wanted to drill the new holes between the old about every 6 inches and being careful not to drill over factory screws that are under the rubrail. Just two people and a few pieces of duct tap to hold the long runs in place while we went down the rail assembly line style. The longer edge of the trim goes down and buts right up against the bottom of the hull top. If this does not make sense, it will when you remove your first peice of trim. We started with the two stern pieces, then the bow and then put on the starboard and port. Worked great.
Next was the stainless trim. It's like doing the project all over again. We began at the bow taking a 12" piece and laid it out bending it and keeping in mind that we did not want any of the screw holes to line up with the PVC screws. Down the line we went. Here is a hint, do not pre-drill the holes for the trim. Hold it in place and work down the line. We found out that to get one piece aligned with the other took a little drill finesse. 1/16th one way or another makes a big difference where the ends meet.
Here is a set of pictures that I took for the board. These really don't do it justice since I took them in the rain, but you can get an idea. I think I ended up paying Bertram $900.00 including shipping to get the rub rail. $180.00 of that was crating for shipment and another 100.00 for shipping from FL to VA. The stainless trim has gone up another 9.00 per foot since I bought it (OUCH!) This steel crisis has hit home big time.
Best of luck. Capt. Patrick, I'm ready for my critique.
Chiles
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