Have any of you had any rub rail screws back out??? Im not sure if mine backed out or they didnt screw them in all the way at the factory because they were cracking the gelcoat. I have 2 screws that poke the rub rail out a little bit and when you remove the rubrail from its little groove you can see th screws and there is a smal crack in the gel coat on both of them.
Im not too mad but just wanted to know if anyone else has seen this on their bird.
I have had that happen a couple of times. My dealer had me put some caulk on them and screw them back in. Seems to be holding up but I was a little concerned as to why this happend.
I did a search and it seems to be a normal condition that is common to every brand. It seems to me that checking them biannually would be a good practice to get in to... i know i will.
Common fixes seem to be the preventative checking of the screws and also coating the threads in marine silicone or exopy when you retighten.
2022 Xpress H18
never removed a rub rail before...how hard is that?
its easy on the phoenix, it is actually two parts. the part that is screwed to the boat and then the par that fits in the grooves in the previous part, if that makes sense. Im not a good teacher forgive my pos explanation. Just look at it and grab it hard with your fingers and pull it out and you will see what im saying.
If the screws have pushed it out enough for you to notice, just carefully go ahead and pull the insert on out a little bit so you can get to the screw. Screw it back down tight and pop the insert back in. You could all of the screws all the way around the boat and have the rubrail back together in an hour if you wanted to. It's not a tough job and as was mentioned, common to happen with most boat brands (I've seen more than I can count).
Jason Phillips
<table width="90%" cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 align=center><tr><td>Quote, originally posted by microsalmo »</td></tr><tr><td class="quote">I did a search and it seems to be a normal condition that is common to every brand. It seems to me that checking them biannually would be a good practice to get in to... i know i will.
Common fixes seem to be the preventative checking of the screws and also coating the threads in marine silicone or exopy when you retighten.</td></tr></table>
Why do they still use screws on rub railsA simple rivet will take care of this and will never back out or loosen up
Not trying to
but I also had a Procraft that seemed every time out I had to take a screwdriver around the boat to tighten things up and I too just thought is was part of owning a bass boat till I tore into a Basscat. Fricken rivets everywhere
Rub rail,lid hinges,seats, major pita to drill out...very time consuming and I voiced my flustration that all these rivets were uneccassary on the BCB page. Well Mr Pierce response was "not one loose hinge, seat, rub rail, lids for a 22 year old boat, I think we will stick with rivets"
My buddy has a new 20i and asked me how to fix the screws backing out and I told him to bring it over and we'll replace them with rivets. He said well then why would they put screws in them in the first place if rivets never loosen up. My answer was IDK maybe cheaper on labor to just run a screw in it rather that dill then rivet.
If you guys ever want to stop screws backing out then I would suggest replacing them with rivets and be done with it
I have seen plenty of rivets on lid hinges loose and wallowed out. Not sure I buy all that rivet stuff.
I prefer tightening screws to repairing a faulty rivet any day! Not so sure that the stresses that are loosening the screws will not loosen a rivet.
No direct experience...just theorizing...
Good postings on the subject!
I remember going to look at new boats over 15 years ago and one of the dealers talking about how quality boats used screws to hold top capt to the bottom instead of rivets. They made it out to be that cheap boats all used rivets. Funny how its one perspective vs another. Still I would think rivets were less expensive than screws for material and labor.
The best way to do that is nyloc nuts on the back side, but you can't get to the backside when the 2 parts come together. The reason rivets appear to work better is when they loosen up or break, they don't push the rubrail insert out, so they go unnoticed unless the deck and hull parts fit so bad they have a big gap where the rivets have failed.
Guys, I have torn apart tons of older boats, not 2000 models but 80's and 90's and screws are loose and rivets solid. This is just my experience, I have 4 BCB's one Champ and had a Astro, Procraft and my new boat is a Ranger. The last four brands use screws, to where they were so lose that they needed to be taken out put silicon on them or resign and reinstalled except my Ranger. Ranger has pultrusion, which has better screw retention then most materials and so far not one screw loose on it. All the BCB's where solid going back to the oldest which is an 87 to the newest 95 and not one loose rivet period.
There are all types of rivets, BCB's uses a steel anvil rivet and when that thing is sucked down good luck getting it loose. Like I said I'm just giving you what I have seen in these resto's I've done. Trust me these boats looked like they where drugged to hell and back and no place I have found a loose rivet. Screws on the other hand
When I had my Procraft I thought is was part of owning a boat, wipe it down break out the ole screw driver and start to tighten. Now I wipe the boat down and go in the house and drink a cold one
There is a reason Boeing uses rivets when building planes...just saying
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