Behind our (Hunter 306) aft cabin, I've seen something like 3 or 4 water trails coming down from the hull/deck joint when it rains, all of which either end up in the bilge, or under the teak panel which separates the aft cabin from the holding/fuel tank space. This has caused the teak plywood panel to delaminate and get nasty over 15 years or so. I'm mostly done with finishing the new panel, but it was time to address these leaks.
So I finally started pulling off the rub rail on the stern the other day. It's one of the very hefty white rubber rails with a narrow stainless steel strip screwed on the outer edge. Fortunately, the rub rail is in 3 sections, and the aft section starts a bit aft of mid-cockpit on one side (near where the arch is attached) and runs across the stern to the other side of the cockpit. So I only have to do the stern section, and not the whole thing. The stainless strip is attached with very shallow screws which are very easy to remove (except when the heads come off, which happened to 3 of them). I don't believe these even penetrate the rubber, so they're unlikely to be the source of leaks. I started by removing the stainless rail up to the joint in the rubber, and about 5 screws beyond, just letting the steel hang.
Under the steel rail, they countersunk longer stainless screws (hidden by the steel rail) which were at least intended to screw into the 5200 in the joint between the deck and hull. These seem to be spaced at intervals of about 10-11 inches. I marked them with bits of blue tape (for reasons I won't try to explain) which you can see in the pictures. Once these were removed, the rubber rails came off on port and starboard sides with only moderate prying for the most part, but then I got really stuck trying to get off the 5 feet or so along the stern, under the boarding ladder. There were a few broken off screws there, so I thought that must be the problem:
So a trip home to get some screw extractors.
So I finally started pulling off the rub rail on the stern the other day. It's one of the very hefty white rubber rails with a narrow stainless steel strip screwed on the outer edge. Fortunately, the rub rail is in 3 sections, and the aft section starts a bit aft of mid-cockpit on one side (near where the arch is attached) and runs across the stern to the other side of the cockpit. So I only have to do the stern section, and not the whole thing. The stainless strip is attached with very shallow screws which are very easy to remove (except when the heads come off, which happened to 3 of them). I don't believe these even penetrate the rubber, so they're unlikely to be the source of leaks. I started by removing the stainless rail up to the joint in the rubber, and about 5 screws beyond, just letting the steel hang.
Under the steel rail, they countersunk longer stainless screws (hidden by the steel rail) which were at least intended to screw into the 5200 in the joint between the deck and hull. These seem to be spaced at intervals of about 10-11 inches. I marked them with bits of blue tape (for reasons I won't try to explain) which you can see in the pictures. Once these were removed, the rubber rails came off on port and starboard sides with only moderate prying for the most part, but then I got really stuck trying to get off the 5 feet or so along the stern, under the boarding ladder. There were a few broken off screws there, so I thought that must be the problem:
So a trip home to get some screw extractors.