need strong wood for rubrail

[rich morpurgo]

I am going to rework my caprails and need a good suggestion for a rubrail to take the beatings that caused my caprail to need rework.

Can anyone suggest the right wood? Should be readily available and look good and be not too expensive.

How would one finish it.

Probably would like a solid bronze or stainless rub strip on top also.

any advise would be appreciated.

rich morpurgo

[cs]

White Oak.

Chad

[Mike Vogdes]

Ipe.
You can leave it natural or finish it bright and use a half oval on top.

[Gresham CA]

Ipe.

[JeffH]

Meaning no offense to Chad, but I'm not fond of white oak for rubrails. Unless you're extrememly diligent in keeping up the finish, they're a nightmare to keep looking good. Oak in the presence of water turns black, requiring a good deal of elbow grease to sand out. Having a fair amount of experience refinishing boats planked entirely with oak, I can say that paint doesn't stick to it very well, either.

Not knowing where you are and what your boat is (and being too lazy to check your profile), I couldn't tell you what would be commonly available for you, or what would look good. If it were me, generally speaking, I would probably choose a wood that would go grey naturally and then require no further attention. Ipe sounds good. If you live near a decent sized boat shop, stop by and ask what wacky woods they've been using lately (purpleheart, angelique, etc.) and see if you can pick up some of their planking scrap...

Way more info than you really needed....

Jeff

[Mrleft8]

I redid the cap rails on an oyster boat a few years back. White oak. Of course, this is a work boat, no frills no fancy bright work. They still look great, as long as you don't mind dings, scratches, blood stains, and gull poop.....

[Jack Heinlen]

What's the boat? I've never worked Ipe, but I believe the WO would be a bunch easier to work. Though it is a bit of challenge to keep it finished bright it didn't stop NGH from using it on his bright sheerstrakes and coamings on his smaller designs.

Great stuff. If it's to be painted then the darkening is a non-issue. You don't say where you live, but it might be found quite reasonably priced also.

[Hughman]

Black locust.

[rich morpurgo]

the boat is a Westsail 32. The caprails stick out farther than the rub strake. Since we have been cruising we have beat it up pretty good. there were also bad spots when we got her.

the boat is in titusville fla. It is in a yard that alows me to work on it. I didn't get any more dings last week in Charlie even though there was 90 mph in the marina.

My plan was to take a router bit with a pilot bearing and cut the overlapping caprail off at the sides of the hull.
Then I will put a 1x2 along the outside, with a solid have round of stainless or bronze.

I may also add a piece of wood to the lower strake and half round to that as well.

We don't hit things much (one time in nasau we were pinned against some pilings at a fuel dock for 24 hours).

I want the docks and pilings to fear me as I aproach!

thanks for the help.

White Oak would not be my first choice visually, I plan on using honey teak like on the rest of the boat. I think teak would be too expensive for a rub strake.

rich

[TimothyB]

Black Locust is absolutely, posive-smurfly a good choice. Its rot resistant and very hard. You'll need to steam it pretty good to bend it, from what I have heard.

Ipe sounds nice but its a BEAR to cut. and rough to bend. Very hard wood tho.

But B. locust is local, less expensive, and it takes epoxy so you can easily glue up lams if you dont want to hassle bending a solid piece.

OR you could do the thing with good quality D.fir (or some other rot resistant, somewhat softer wood) capped with 1/2" hardwood like Ipe or Locust.. or stainless steel half round. smile.gif The 'common wisdom' says that rubrails built with a soft(er)wood base and a hardwood cap take a lot more of a beating because they have some 'give'.

--T

[ 08-19-2004, 03:49 PM: Message edited by: TimothyB ]

[Peter Malcolm Jardine]

I would say Ipe or Iroko. Ipe is twice as dense as teak, but does not finish well apparently. Iroko is all the rage around here as a well priced substitute for teak. White Oak stands up well, but the blackening tears it for me too.

[Mrleft8]

I want the docks and pilings to fear me as I aproach!

This would be the proper time to get all those old bandsaw blades that are lying about together. The thing ya do, ya see, is weld them all together with the teeth facing out, and rivet them to your rail. This makes a kinda "rasp" kinda situation. Not only will docks and pilings fear you, but other boaters will think twice before carelessly ramming you! :D

[Matt J.]

Brownheart, from South America, is what I'd use for super hard, super durable wood where impacts and other such abuses are expected. It was mentioned in a WB article back around 150-152 I think; apparently a superior wood to teak for rot resistance and super strong... Brad Ives, works (worked?) at Gannon and Benjamin was importing it often, and may have some in stock. Depends, of course, on where you are. These woods are typically not as expensive as common local species, believe it or not.

[Barrett Faneuf]

Ipe.

I found it to be surprisingly easy to work with, so long as you use carbide tools.

I cut these rubrails, ran em through the router, drilled and mounted them with no troubles at all. No splintering, burning, anything. Actually I cut 3" sections on the bandsaw (which isn't carbide) with no issues. You want to predrill generously because its one downside that I found was that it can split.

I found it easier to work with than white oak. Glues nicely, too.

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid136/pe70c0d6eae4ad2b563c99ad1ac833dac/f751fcd2.jpg

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid136/pa840f8af44dde016e37084491e3da409/f751fc5f.jpg

The Ipe isn't oiled yet so it's still greenish-brown.

A little hard to see from the distance, but I put a quarter-round on both edges so the rubrail is close to half-oval. It's so tough that I'm not going to bother with any cap metal edging or anything. The gunwale will be Ipe, too. The keel, skeg, and impact areas of the centreboard are already Ipe. Let's see, so are the mast step and block cheeks and cleats smile.gif . As you see, I'm a believer. It oils up to an unbelievably pretty deep dark red-brown if you like that sort of thing (which I do).

Edtitted to add: It's MUCH cheaper than teak, too, with a higher "toughness" rating.

-Barrett

[ 08-23-2004, 03:25 PM: Message edited by: Barrett Faneuf ]

[imported_Steven Bauer]

If you use the ipe you can skip the metal rub strip on top. It's that strong! And I haven't had any problems working it with carbide tools. Around here it's about a buck a foot for 1 x 4.

Steven