Wooden Boat People
By McKenzieDriftBoat.com
Bumper Rail Installation
Morning all,
I am trying to finish up my first drift boat (McKenzie) and have found answers to just about every question I have had just by perusing the forum. One I can’t find the answer too is installation of what I call the bumper rail. The 1” piece of wood that runs along the bottom outside edge of the boat to allow it to bump into obstacles without damaging the hull.
My question is if I’m going to epoxy and glass the hull when do I install the rail? If I install it after I epoxy/glass then the screws will have to penetrate the glassed hull causing future problems. If I install it before I epoxy/glass then I have to glass over and around this piece!
HELP
God Bless
Views: 928
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Bryan McDade on
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I am guessing you are meaning the outside chine batten, not the rub rails that are more for aesthetics than anything else. I would install the chine after you have glassed the bottom, remember to not have your glass make a sharp 90 deg bend at the edge as this leads to failure of the joint. When you install the chine after this, use liberal amounts of 3m 5200 and you should have no issues with the screws. The gap between the bottom of the boat and chine can be filled in and smoothed out with fillet. I would also assume that you are putting some type of varnish or epoxy over the outside, this will help to seal the outside chine battens as well. Good luck, if this is not clear I believe there are some older posts that even have pictures of this process. Anyone know which ones?
This piece is designed so that you will, in the far distant future, be able to remove it and install a new one. Due to my lack of skill with the oars mine generally get pretty chewed up after a fews years.
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Permalink Reply by Steven Miller on
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Thanks bro! yes, that helps a great deal, I just needed to hear someone say that that's how it's done to give me confidence!
"one test result is worth 100 expert opinions" is the montra I live by.
The river I fish mainly is gravel bottomed and doesn't have a lot of rocks but I know I will still hit htings and being able to replace it only made sense!! thanks again!!
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Ok, so I searched for "Chine Batten" and found a dozen threads. I looked at every plan I had and site but could not find what that was called! Thanks!!
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Permalink Reply by AJ DeRosa on
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Has anyone here ever removed a chine cap bedded with 3M 5200. My experience with 5200 a polyurethane marine adhesive, is that it's bond is stronger than the wood itself and not a good choice for removable parts like chine caps. I have used 3M 101, a polysulfide bedding compound, with great success. It does it's job of bedding the chine cap and sealing the joint and is easily removed when the cap needs to be replaced.
I'd like to hear some stories about removing a cap bedded with 5200.
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Permalink Reply by Lawrence E. Long on
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AJ: While not a cap bedding operation I have built a centerboard trunk for a small sailboat using 5200. This stuff is amost impossible to remove once set up. Razorblades,scrapers,chisels -and it still sticks to the wood- and in the process the wood gets chewed up. You are correct as to using 3M101. There is another product we use to bed hardware,cleats, screw heads etc- Dolfinite Bedding Compound. Used over painted/varnished surfaces, dries fairly hard but can be removed.
I would never use 3M5200- or 3M4200 to bond anything that I might want to remove in the future. Dolfinite is good but quite expensive vs 3M101
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Good news, I found the 101 at Lowes!
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Permalink Reply by Randy Dersham on
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I cut the chine batten off of the boat with a jigsaw leaving about 1/8 of an inch of wood so I do not damage the boat sides. Then I belt sand the last 1/8 inch and the remaining 5200 with an 80 grit belt sander. It takes about 30 min per side.
I use 5200. I also use the fillet compound to smooth the gap between the inside of the hard chine edge and my rounded over 1/2 in fir plywood bottom.
I believe that if a chine batten needs to be replaced because of damage it should be replaced, so cut it off the boat. If the boat is leaking and the chine batten can be reused then the bedding compound has failed. We see quite a few boat repairs caused by rot when the bedding fails yet the owner fails to make the repair.
What ever you do, keep that chine joint sealed!
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Permalink Reply by Jeff Jennings on
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Just recently, I had to remove a chine batten that had been bedded with 5200. It was a nightmare to say the least. It took a very sharp scraper driven by a hammer to loosen the bond. But, even after that there was 5200 still adhered to the plywood and the chine. I was hoping to reuse the chine but that thought is lost now with all of that mess still on it.
Needless to say, I will be reinstalling the new chine batten with 3M101 or something similar.
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Nice call on the 101, I have only used 5200 as it was reccomended to make the seal better. I have removed a chine cap that had it that was really really old and worn out and I had no problem. I would go with the 101 as I have also removed a newer one that was a bear! GL.
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Ok, one more question. Do you drive the screws from the inside out or outside in?
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I did mine from the outside in. It was significantly easier with the boat upside down. Remember to pre-drill and countersink watching out for the other screws that are all ready in there. Gl Others may use ringshank nails for this but I never have, someone will know.
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That's what I was thinking. Stainless screws, sealant behind chine, countersunk and avoiding earlier screws; thanks!!
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