Aluminum Rubrails

[Gus sanchez]

I recently purchased a 1987 37 Hunter. The rubrail are made of aluminum. The aluminum on the flat side that runs along the the top of the deck has some type of galvanic corrosion and piting.Can anyone please suggest any solutions to this problem. Are there any cleaner I can use to bring back the shine to the aluminum.Your help is greatly appreciated.

 

[Stevec]

I am starting to experience the same situation...

with the same boat. I suspect that the stainless carriage bolts in the aluminum rail is causing the problem. I noticed this summer that one of the heads to a carriage bolt just popped off (corrosion) while I was washing the boat. When I looked close at the other bolts, all were a 'blackish' color, which indicates corrosion, instead of the 'shiny' stainless look. This haulout, I intend to replace all of them, coating them with something ( as yet undetermined) to reduce the electrical connectivity. I'm not sure if you can bring back the original look of your rail, but you might want to take steps to prevent further deterioation.

 

[Bryan C.]

Good luck. ~sigh~

Have the same problem on my '88 35. Mostly my fault from using a slightly rusty iron bristle brush to try to remove old sealant from a skylight. I didn't rinse the boat that day cuz I had just re-caulked the skylight (that's another story). A couple weeks later I noticed little pits on the toe rail that grew and grew.I've tried some metal polish and cleaners and nothing helped. I more recently bought some aluminum etching stuff from West Marine, treated the toe rail, and then sprayed it with some clear acrylic spray paint. I'm experimenting with some grey spray paint to try to cover the pits. Haven't found any that matches particularly wonderfully. Don't know if any of this is going to work in the long run, and I doubt it. It still seems to be corroding. Maybe an aluminum primer would hold better. I was just hesitant about painting my toerail yellow or puke green. My diesel mechanic suggested using aluminum wheel paint from any auto store. I may try that.From what I've read and was told from Hunter, the only way to really solve this problem is to have the toe rail re-anodized (the Hunter guy also suggested that regular waxing might slow down the corrosion). Problem is, the only place I've found that could handle a 30 ft piece of aluminum anodized is about 300 miles away. And the thought of unbolting the 60 bolts bolts on the toe rail and removing the stanchions to get the damn thing off is too depressing to think about, even if I could figure out a way to get the rail to the metal shop that can handle it.The moral of the story for everyone else is never use steel products (i.e. steel wool) around the boat and rinse your boat often. The whole thing is very depressing. Oh well. That's why I bought a used boat.~ sigh ~