Wood Trim

[Doyle]

The wooden rubrail on my 15' Wagemaker needs to be replaced. I think it is white oak. I will also needs some mahoganey trim pieces for the interior.

I checked out some of the links on the wooden boat website, but found mostly plywood and raw hardwood stock. Is this something I have to have custom made or are their shops that stock various types of trim?

Thanks

[Art Read]

Hi, Doyle... Without specifics, I'm guessing the rubrail was probably gotten out of dimensional lumber and "milled" to meet the boat's design by the builder. I doubt you'll have much luck finding any stock pre-shaped to fit the bill. With my own project, not one, single stick of wood that's gone into her has any face or surface that came that way from the lumberyard! The good news is that it really ain't that hard and doesn't really "require" a fully equiped wood shop. What are we talking about? A sort of "half round" profile? Be nice to have a routing table and the apropriate bit to do it, but you can muddle through with a nice hand and or power plane or maybe even just a belt sander if you're "clever" with it. Gonna take a bit of finish sanding to fine tune things, but hey, the labor's cheap! A regular circular saw will rip out the rough pieces from larger stock if that's all you can buy. The interior trim is a little more "delicate", but you might just get lucky there and find something already milled for you. I'd look into some sort of home improvement specialists. No reason it has to be "boat lumber" as long as it matches what you've already got. But I would stay away from run of the mill, (literally!) kiln dried oak for that rub rail if there's much sweep and/or curve to it. G'luck!


[This message has been edited by Art Read (edited 11-01-2001).]

[TomRobb]

What's it look like - shape, size, etc. Would heavy hemp or manila line make a more practical, saltier rub "rail"? Is this a working girl or a fancy lady?