Dock rub and patio rails

[rheimb1]

My wife and I bought Ruby Rose “R25SC” last fall and used it as much as possible this past winter. These boats are nice as you all know. I also know that we all love our boats and give them a lot of TLC. As I sift through the chat forums of my interests I have come across two things in which everyone seems to have problems. The first one is dock rub. After only 5 months our boat has shown signs of rub. After a lot of thinking I came up with the idea of Paint Protection Film, made by 3M. This film is the stuff they put the front of your car, anywhere from the hood to behind the mud flaps to prevent rock chips. For about fifty bucks at Amazon I purchased enough for four fenders at 12” wide.
The application learning curve was fairly easy if you follow the directions to the last period. My biggest concern was, I’m I going to see it? Yes, if you look for it and yes if you don’t clean the wax off around the edges. And that is if you’re looking for it and are within 15” of the boat. See photos. gallery2.php?g2_itemId=39972

The other issue has to do with patio rails. There is a lot of discussion about whether or not to even have one on the swim deck. I chose to put one on and user “ozoner” claimed that every boat that has them said, “I have rarely seen a swim step with rails mounted that did not have gelcoat stress cracks around where the rails mount to the swim step.” And I believe he is right. So again I got to thinking, “I don’t want that to happen on my boat!” Again I don’t know if I have the right solution, but I decided to put stainless steel plates under the swim deck rather than just using the flat washers that came with the rail. There’s not a lot of room before you get into the curve of the deck so I made that one about ½” wider than the top plate. The plate by the swim step I had to take back to the fabricator and have him cut about a ¼” off one side. Cost $130. Give me some time and I'll let you know of these ideas work.

 

[elan]

Good morn in Ruby Rose,
As to the finders rubbing on the side of your boat & scratching the finish, we go to Wall Mart & purchase in the children's department small(yep} take measurments & then purchase tee shirts, slide them over the finders, we wash them once & then replace them, seems to work well.
We can't take credit for the idea, we picked it up going through so many locks in various areas, about 120 now!
Good luck,
Mike
M/V Elan
Cutwater 26

 

[Brian B]

I see you have a red hull. The red and blue seem to be the worst for oxidazation, wondering if there will be a noticeable difference in the hull color between the areas protected by the film and the larger hull areas. I have one area on the tan band around the cabin where the previous owner had placed a state registration decal that had been on the boat for two years. I removed it 3 years ago and have compounded the area and waxed it a few times and that one spot always stands out.

 

[rheimb1]

You may be very well right. I'm hoping that since it is clear, that UV light will burn through and keep it roughly the same. I don't notice any difference on cars but then that's paint and not gel coat. My game plan is to moore it covered as much as possible. I'll keep tabs on it. You know how it is, it's six of one!

As for your boat's problem I'd stick on an American flag!