Installing rub rails: tips? Tricks?

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Re: Installing rub rails: tips? Tricks?

Postby slash2 on Sun Nov 13, 2022 10:54 am

I decided I wanted to make my trim (rub and toe rails , hatch) out of white oak. I’ve always liked oak and it’s local. I’ve also been interested in steaming wood and did some oak for inside the cabin. I need to do the rub rails before flipping so I’m figuring it out. I decided to try to steam bend the rub rails in one piece (well two - fore and aft as I have 9’ boards). It’s been an adventure and education. Thought I’d go through the process so far in hope it’s of value to other builders. Sorry if this is a big long winded..

Since it’s really difficult to transfer the curve on the boat to a work table, my original thought was to bend it in place . I made supports every foot along the curve and screwed them into place. I added various thickness blocks (max of 1 1/2” in the middle) to allow for the anticipated spring back. I cut the oak to the rough finished size and steamed it a bit over an hour. Then I clamped it into place and let it sit overnight.
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The next day I took off the clamps and had a lot of spring back. Like almost a foot at each end. I was surprised, but being an amateur, thought I needed to allow for more spring back. So I transferred the curve to a workbench and added substantial curve to it. I put blocks on every foot and used clamps and a ratchet strap around the whole thing to help pull in the ends. When I went to clamp it in it all went a bit crazy and the poor board (same one) came out all over the place. So I reconfigured my setup and tried again. I also searched for tips and realized I was probably not letting the steam box get fully up to temperature before adding the wood. EnglesCoachShop on YouTube is really good and fun to watch. He steam bent 2” oak into a ‘U’ with very little spring back, so I knew it could be done. Anyway, I waited until stream was coming out of the box, but I really need to measure the temperature to be sure it was up to near 100C. So with the better setup and method I tried a third time (same piece). I had to use a flexible drainage pipe to accommodate the set curve in the wood. The next day I pulled the clamps and the wood just sat there- virtually no spring back! But now it curved way too much! Agh. I realized half the board was ok, so I adjusted my setup to follow the actual curve and steamed the one end of the board. Pulled it out this morning and it looks to fit very well. I think my original idea of forming it on the boat is good, I just need to let the steam box come up to temperature. Yes, it would probably have been much easier to have re-sawn my boards and laminated them, but I have (mostly) enjoyed this process.
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Re: Installing rub rails: tips? Tricks?

Postby [email protected] on Sun Nov 13, 2022 11:52 pm

So, you were able to bend a single full-width piece of oak? I'm impressed that oak steam-bends so well.
I steam-bent each of the three pieces of mahogany that came with my kit. I was able to make
a cheap and simple steam box from a paint can and a length of 2" corrugated hose:

https://dougbraun.com/pocketship_blog/2 ... m-bending/
https://dougbraun.com/pocketship_blog/2 ... the-rails/

Doug
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Re: Installing rub rails: tips? Tricks?

Postby slash2 on Mon Nov 14, 2022 3:38 am

Cool. Thanks for showing what you did. Just out curiosity, how did you transfer the curve of the boat to the pallets? And does the line I see on the pallets represent the actual curve and you bent beyond that to compensate for spring back?

Actually white oak is at the top of the list for steam bending. It bent pretty easily once I got the technique down. It also helped I found a local one man sawmill that will custom cut boards. He normally kiln dries his lumber but the greener the better for bending. Search “EngelsCoachShop Steam bending red oak” to see how well oak can bend.
Steve Sawtelle
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Re: Installing rub rails: tips? Tricks?

Postby [email protected] on Mon Nov 14, 2022 9:36 pm

slash2 wrote:Cool. Thanks for showing what you did. Just out curiosity, how did you transfer the curve of the boat to the pallets? And does the line I see on the pallets represent the actual curve and you bent beyond that to compensate for spring back?

I started by tracing the curve of the boat onto a piece of cardboard and transferring it to the pallet. But the first piece I did had a lot of spring-back, so I increased the curve for the rest.
The goal was not to exactly match the correct shape, but to add enough bend to the strips to make it possible to pull them fully into position without destroying anything.

Doug
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Re: Installing rub rails: tips? Tricks?

Postby Pasi in Finland on Fri Nov 25, 2022 4:08 am

The first rub rail I cracked and thought this will be a nightmare. However, I then came up with a method that made the process fairly easy.

I started with hanging the bow end of the rail strip to approximately the right height and then started to install the screws starting from the stern like this:

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Adding screws and moving towards the bow is then fairly easy and you can soon remove the bow support.

When you come to the bow, add a small piece of wood to the other side and use the clamp to help you put force to the strip. Add pressure sloooowly not to crack it. Installing the very first one I was a chicken and used the clamp to pull in the wood only about half way and then left it for a day to let it settle. In the next ones I pulled in the strips all the way on one go but did it very slowly. Scroll the picture to see what I did.

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I then left the rail strip there for a day to assume some of the shape and reduce springiness. This did happen and seemed to help. Hopefully it also reduced the risk of cracking while gluing when a snap would be a hugely bigger disaster.

When ready to start epoxy, I backed all the screws out except maybe three middle ones. Here ready to start:

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The reason for this order is that 2-3 screws in the middle will support the full strip easy.

I then start spreading the epoxy starting from the stern maybe 3 feet at the time and screwing the strip to the boat. You screw a screw, clean the squeeze out, spread epoxy on a foot or so more and so on. Always have about 3 feet with epoxy spread in front of the screw you're planning to tighten to ensure you can pull the strip enough from the boat to spread more epoxy. After a few screws from the stern, you can back up the middle screws, the stern screws will support the strip. You can also have the bow support back on to help you until you've reached about halfway. By using the squeeze-out from the screwed in part when spreading the epoxy you also save a LOT of it.

And then at the end use the clamp to help you and leave it in and wait for the epoxy to dry.

When putting on the second and third layer, the temporary screw will be held by very strong and dense wood in the previous layer. Getting them out in one piece once the epoxy dries is really hard no matter how long you heat them. I cut many but just left them: I've learned to use stainless temporary screws.

happy building!
Pasi
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Re: Installing rub rails: tips? Tricks?

Postby buckeye on Sun Dec 11, 2022 1:35 pm

I used mahogany that was pretty stiff. I considered steam bending but then read that soaking in fabric softener would work. I bought a long PVC tube and then gave it a try. I pulled each one out when needed and dry fit with drywall screws. After it dried in place I went back and assemble with thickened epoxy. It all went well. Wouldn’t change anything. I did attach a block at the stem to the rail on the opposite side to provide a way to use a clamp to draw the last few inches of curvature there.
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