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Rub rail replacement


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OK, so I waited a couple weeks before I posted this because I was so mad at myself. I had a bad memorial weekend with the boat, and now the boat needs some repair. Here's how it went.

I've owned my boat almost a year now, and have been boating for nearly 12 years. My roommate and girlfriend were with me, and neither have too much experience with boats. I back the boat down the launch ramp until about 10 ft. from the water so all my roommate has to do is keep the truck straight for about 15 more feet. Well, it took him 4 tries to get it in the water (The start of my frustration). So He finally gets the trailer in the water where I can get the boat off, but I look over the edge to see my trailer is sitting pretty deep in the water. Being frustrated, I figure, "so what" just get this thing in the water. (Ramp was empty). As I back off, I hear this loud cracking/peeling sound and I look forward to see about 12" of my bow rubrail is being ripped off my boat. I seriously wanted to cry. Long story short, The rubrail looks bad, and appears to have pulled 2 rivots about 1/2 way out of the fiberglass. My question is, has anyone ever had a rubrail replaced or repaired? How much is this going to cost me?

I called my dealer, he said if the whole things needs to be replaced, it can "get pricey" I did call my insurance agent, and if its really bad, I'm going to make a claim, but avoiding this at all costs.

As a side note, we ended up going out anyways (mistake number 2). Had my roommate pull me through the slalom course (never done it before), and I think all the buoys were a little intimidating. Another long story short, he ran over my $80 ski rope, didn't have my tool box w/ me so had to flag down a fisherman :( to borrow his knife to cut it loose. To top it off, I read the thread the night before about keeping goggles and a knife in the boat incase of this occurence (a little twisting of the dagger).

Sorry for the very long post, still venting over that weekend....

Edited by HOskier313
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I just had the rubrail replaced on my Echelon. I went to the newer one piece style like they are using on the I-ride series.

Materials were about $200.00, and I think the labor was around $300.00.

CB

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$500 is about right. I bet, the angle of the ramp was steep and the trailer was backed in too far. The boat was level and the bow dropped relative to the front bumper and the rub rail got caught on it.

Get it fixed right. I have learned to do everything myself rather than try to depend on people with no or little experience.

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I honestly was expecting a lot more than $500, I don't know why. I will take that. You start to realize how nice it is when you find someone who knows what their doing and are willing to adjust to do things your way.

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88skier is right, the ramp is steep, so the back of the boat starts floating a lot sooner therefore it shortens the 'length' of the trailer guides. The bow is still sitting really high out of the water on top of the bow trailer guide. Hard to explain until you actually see it happening.

When I called the dealer, I told them what happened, and the first thing they said was "Your trailer was in too deep wasn't it?" Apparently I'm not the first person to learn this lesson the hard way.

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  Apparently I'm not the first person to learn this lesson the hard way.

:)

My 88 Skier has a very high bow eye. The bumper is a rubber V and not a roller that is just under the rub rail. If the transom floats at all, the V will catch the rub rail.

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i've been boating for almost 50 years.

i've owned my own boats over 30 years.

i've spent altogether too much time in the us navy.

i'm very conservative and i still can't get over how fast things can go from "swell" to "aw crap" when you are on the water.

good luck with the repairs.

we all go through it - who made that rule?

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88Skier - I do have the "V" shaped roller, but it didn't roll. The first thought that comes to mind is an obscene amount of lubricant to make it roll in cases such as this.

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I've done many a knucklehead things myself. Tough to accept. Yet.... I try to get a lesson out of it. Reminds me I can make mistakes... so I tell myself at leat THIS one was recoverable.

Some of my bonehead moves:

1/ Had a camera on loan (Rolleiflex medium format). Took it to a friend (camera technician) to have appraised. He says it's in great shape. We're leaving his place, set the camera case down, put the kids into carseats, and drive up the ramp of his underground. As I heard a bump bump bump, THAT's when I remembered I set the case down on the blasted roof of the car. Camera tumbled out, punched in the back. Cost me hundreds to repair.... and now I HAD to buy it.

2/ Working around the car. Set the keys on the front seat. Forget. Slam the door. Locked out!

3/ Many many years ago (Over 25). Backing the outboard up as close to the garage as I can, so I'm not sticking out onto the sidewalk. Forgot I left the motor tilted UP. Bang goes the lower unit into the garage door. Collapses the lower garage panel. Then the next one slides down... bang again onto the outboard lower unit. It breaks away, and the 3rd... then the 4th.. and finally the 5th panel all end up collapsing on my outboard. Scratched the heck out of the outboard, and my garage door is all in pieces laying crumpled up on the driveway. I called the Insurance company. They asked 1 critical question. WHO was driving. I said "stooopid me". They said, sorry, we can't cover you if it's the OWNER of the property who did the damage.

So.... in addition to looking like an idiot, I have to replace my garage door (on my dime), and get the lower unit repainted.

NET: I try and tell myself that I can make mistakes.... so don't get too cocky.... or rushed.... or it will happen to me again. Kind of a wake-up-call.

Fortunately it's just a rub rail....and it's fixable. Don't beat yourself up. (Now if if you did it a 2nd time...then you can beat yourself up.)

Edited by doughickey
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Our ramp at Kai Iwi Lake is steep & I was puzzled at the pressure on the bow rub rail the first time I put the trailer in too far. To counter the effort of pushing a heavy boat off the trailer, I have covered the carpet bed on the trailer with a silicon spray & this works a treat.

Water beads off the carpet, it doesn't retain water or go mouldy but don't unhitch the boat before the trailer is down the ramp or you will be replacing the prop, rudder & strut!!

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88Skier - I do have the "V" shaped roller, but it didn't roll.  The first thought that comes to mind is an obscene amount of lubricant to make it roll in cases such as this.

The V is not supposed to roll. It definately bungs the rub rail up though if you let it. I am going to eliminate mine altogether before I replace the rub rail.

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Sounds like you had a bad day. Sorry.

I have a couple of spots where my rubrail is pulling away a bit. I will likely need to have it replaced eventually, but not yet.

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HOskier313- Reading your post it sounds like you can re-install your rub rail back up, it is hard to say without looking at it thou, but if you need to replace it you might want to think of doing it yourself. A second person is almost a must, a pneumatic rivet gun is also almost a must, a heat gun is a must. Depending on what type of rub rail you have the hard rubber insert is a bit tricky to install.

CLICK HERE

Doug- I been there and done that more times then what I like to admit!... Cry.gif those are the moments when you sit down, put one hand on top of your knee and the other wide open in front of your forehead and say "what was I thinking?!"... my Dad always said learn from your mistakes, the cost is an investment on your self... :)

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BarefootOz - Thanks for the link, I'll at least look into it and price it. My dad already asked me if we could do it ourselves. He's extremely handy, so its always a possibility.

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HOskier313,

You're welcome!... My advise to you is take up your Dad's offer, I'm sure you two can do it... heck, even if you're not successful the quality of time spend with your Dad would be worth the try... Good Luck!... :)

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I took the new boat out for a houseboat trip over Memorial Day. Long drive, lots of strangers and unknown river. Knowing that there was a high possibiliy for a similar hardluck story, I made sure to take a moment and remind myself before I left that S**t happens and be prepared for something to go wrong and try not to stress over it.

Turns out things turned out perfectly, 3 days of glass (I mean all day everyday) Tons of newbies having a great time and just an all around great trip.

I am not rubbing it in, this is definately the exception. I cannot remember any other trip where there wasn't something that went wrong.

Just have spare parts, have a good time, and deal with the issues like the rubrail when you get home. You cannot let these types of things ruin your weekend. There are so many devastaing (hitting a log at speed) incidents or tragic incidents, that this is just a minor "damn"

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I came close to doing the same thing. I backed the trailer of RLXI (notorious for having a low bow) too far. When I went to crank out the line, the bow hook slamed down hard on the trailer leaving a nice deep scratch. Now I give about a couple feet of slack in the line and slooowly back in. No probs.

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I was at JOA Marine (MC Dealer) having service done last year when this guy drives up in a Hummer 2 pulling his matching loaded out X-Star. I commented to the service manager about how nice the rig was and she says. " All that money, and he still can barely get it on the trailer". She explained to me that earlier in the summer, this guy (more money than brains) dropped his trailer in way too deep and had a friend (with no experience) attempt to put the boat on. Anyhow, the guy comes in WAY too fast and ran the bow right through the back window of the Hummer. He immediately panics and throws the boat in reverse where the prop and rudder pound the trailer.

Total: $ 8000 damage to boat, $6000 to Hummer, $800 to trailer

Suddenly, I feel pretty smart......

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Thanks to everyone for the stories/encouragement/sympathy. Like I said before, I'm still going out and using the boat 'as is' with the damage. I'm being extremely careful right now with the loading and unloading. The incident was lack of patience and being in too big of a hurry. I was always taught to do things the right way the first time with a boat. When I was 16 I even worked at a dealership where I would launch and recover boats. The next step for me is to teach my roommate/others how I was taught.

88Skier mentioned to do things yourself if your not confident in the others ability. There's always that Catch-22 of the frequently-discussed "taking too long at the launch ramp." An incident like this, I may justify the extra 3-4 mins. to actually back the trailer in myself then bring the boat up. Or at least take the extra time to ensure nothing like this happens again.

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It might be a good idea to have prospective helpers practice during some non busy times. Just an idea. I did that with a buddy of mine and he puts the trailer right on the money every time now.

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By the way (thread hyjack here)... I assume with "HO" in your Crew name, you're an HO product user. Which one?

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By the way (thread hyjack here)... I assume with "HO" in your Crew name, you're an HO product user. Which one?

Maybe he forgot the "2" between the "H" and "O"? Biggrin.gif I know I guy that forgot a "r" once. Crazy.gif

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