No rub rails? Really?

[thinwater]

Originally Posted by Lionelsole

99% of the time in Europe, you either tie up to a floating pontoon or stern-to a wall. Rubbing strips thus have no purpose so are not fitted.

And both of those situations are very rare here. Different.

[deblen]

Available at many chandlers. / Len



Rub Rail | TACO Marine


https://www.fisheriessupply.com/anch...dware/rub-rail

[deblen]

RubRails.com - Photo Gallery

[senormechanico]

We had some really beefy rubrails on our previous boat.
Molded in + thick teak+ s.s. strip.

(sistership in photo).

[Dooglas]

Originally Posted by senormechanico

We had some really beefy rubrails on our previous boat.
Molded in + thick teak+ s.s. strip.

Looks like an excellent arrangement to me.

[elandra65]

Totally agree about the lack of even any sort of rubbing strip on new boats. A newish Beneteau and Jeanneau I looked at recently had absolutely nothing. That beautiful topside won't look like that for long. If I had one I would be tempted to glue an alloy moulding much of the length of the boat with Sika or similar. Wouldn't use fixings due to the likelihood of damage to the hull.

Really makes you wonder about who designs these things. Another stupid thing I have noticed in new boats is the fashion for square edges. These designers should be made to operate a cruising boat in rough seas before they are allowed to unleash their designs on the public.

Andrew

[wcapital]

We had a cat (St. Francis 44) with no rub rails - but added them. A company in FL fabricated them to fit, and it made a world of difference. I think total cost, including shipping to Eastern Caribbean, and the labor I didn't provide myself, was probably $2500-3000. So, for a boat downsized from 37', particularly if in the US, I'd think the cost could be significantly less......so would seem a reasonable option if you find a boat that's great in most other respects.

[gbillman]

Originally Posted by wcapital

We had a cat (St. Francis 44) with no rub rails - but added them. A company in FL fabricated them to fit, and it made a world of difference. I think total cost, including shipping to Eastern Caribbean, and the labor I didn't provide myself, was probably $2500-3000. So, for a boat downsized from 37', particularly if in the US, I'd think the cost could be significantly less......so would seem a reasonable option if you find a boat that's great in most other respects.

Sounds great. I have a Leopard 40 in Florida I've been contemplating doing the same thing to. Do you remember the company name?

[wcapital]

Originally Posted by gbillman

Sounds great. I have a Leopard 40 in Florida I've been contemplating doing the same thing to. Do you remember the company name?

Yes - it was Alan Ray - RubRails.com - Your online source for rub rails, bilge supplies, boat cleaning supplies, and other boating accessories. It's been several years now, but I see the website is still good, and the TF number same (877-287-6707). He'd done them for a few SF44's, was quite helpful in figuring out configuration. Even though design are relatively standard, there's variations from vessel to vessel, and options as to type of rail design and coverage.

Tell him I said hello if you talk to him (Kevin from Mustard Seed - now El Holandes Errante, with it's new owner down in the South Pacific)

[gbillman]

Thanks Kevin. I will.

[jmh2002]

Of course a proper rub rail, built in from the factory, would be better, but these days when a lot of boats are 'cruiser/racers, or 'performance cruisers' that is not going to happen.

A modern take on the fender board/plank is to have a long rectangle shaped fender instead. You can get inflatable versions too.

I realise it's not the same, but it can be another option.

[waterman46]

Originally Posted by HankOnthewater

On edit another thought: as many (?most) boats are in marinas with floating jetties, rubrails are far too high to be any use with these jetties, and pylons are often inside the jetties or in the middle on the end. Maybe that is another reason why manufacturers do not add them?

This is nearly always the case in CA and west coast Mexico. Seldom see a piling not part of a floating dock, so rub rail would not contact those pilings.

More important, adding a rub rail can be just another source of long term problem leakage into the boat if it is thru-bolted, especially since it is even lower than the gunwale (deck railing). Solving such leakage could be a major headache.

[swordds]

If I could afford it I would add rub rails to my boat. But since I can’t I use inflatable dinghy beach rollers as a fender. The rollers are very heavy duty (made for use on gravel beaches), are easily inflatable, deflate to a much smaller size than typical fenders, they are about 8 inches in dia. (a guess) so they hold the boat well off from the piling or dock, and best of all they are about 5 ft long so two of them stretched out horizontally completely protect one side of my 30’ boat and placed horizontally they protect against round pilings without the need for heavy, bulky fender boards

[mglonnro]

We thought long and hard about whether to order rub rails or not on our new Hanse 388. The price isn't that bad, 1100 eur + VAT, but I can't help feeling they are quite ugly!

We have a lot of pole/box berths over here in Finland/Baltics as well and sure, a damaged boat is not very beautiful either.

But we left them out. And see that actually very few boats have them over here (though they would be obviously useful). I'm considering flat fenders and/or something like the LIROS Bumperline.

[KRMS]

Originally Posted by mglonnro

We thought long and hard about whether to order rub rails or not on our new Hanse 388. The price isn't that bad, 1100 eur + VAT, but I can't help feeling they are quite ugly!

We have a lot of pole/box berths over here in Finland/Baltics as well and sure, a damaged boat is not very beautiful either.

But we left them out. And see that actually very few boats have them over here (though they would be obviously useful). I'm considering flat fenders and/or something like the LIROS Bumperline.

This seems a very small diameter for you to be confident that it sufficiently on the widest part of the hull and that the post is sufficiently smooth that there’ll be no damage. The couple of occasions where I’ve damaged the hull in regular mooring have been when I thought that we were adequately fendered but we clearly weren’t.

On a similar theme to this product I’ve seen a large diameter ship’s warp hung along the length of the boat hung from each stanchion base.