Re: Doea anyone know where to find An excellent question. This is one of the last remaining things I do not have for my restoration. Unfortunately, they are gone on many boats. There is a good reason for this. The shoebox deck-to-hull joint on these boats was designed with a 1/2 inch gap between the hull and the lip of the deck. A strip of 1/2 plywood was used to fill the gap, and it was coated with resin. In many cases, water nonetheless got into the gap and rotted the wood. Because the rub rail end caps were screwed into the joint, the only thing holding them on was a wood screw that was screwed into wood that nearly always rotted. Thus, the corner caps would fall off and sink to the bottom. Many owners have tried different solutions to the rotted shoebox strip, including removing the rotted wood and spraying expanding foam into the gap to replace the wood. The only way you can replace the wood is to remove all the rivets that hold the deck to the hull, so you can slide in the new wood. This is what I ultimately had to do, although it was not a big deal because I was removing the deck anyway. Of course, I used treated 1/2 plywood to replace the original strips and then coated them with fairing compound, rather than simply resin. I will cover this in the restoration guide soon. Some people simply wrap the new rub rail (wefco rubber - die is 187-1) around the stern and terminate them with no end cap near the engine, where the termination is less noticeable. It has been my intention to either go that route or to contact Tom Miller and see if he knows where to get them. Alternatively, I am considering the possibility of having my neighbor, who owns a metal fabrication company, build me some new ones. If anyone knows where to get these, please advise! Thanks! MarkBano
Re: Doea anyone know where to find Mark, I still have not found those parts and I am beginning to think they are gone. jim
Re: Doea anyone know where to find If Tom does not have any I will talk to a friend of mine that does CNC machine work on aluminum products. He can make some pretty impressive stuff, I once had him make a automotive starter housing. Daniel
Re: Doea anyone know where to find If someone could start making them again, that would be awsome! I'm missing one and would die to find a replacement.
I think I still got both of the originals that were on my 1973 18. I bought new rubber for it, I was as far in the project as Mark is now, and that's when I ran across the new one that I bought. I will have to check my father's garage, I think they are on his shelf. When I make the trip to Elgin, I will check. Greg
