We have a 22 ODay and I noticed that we have some places along our rub rail where it looks like there is a small amount of water that gets into the cabin under the carpet on the walls. I think that this is coming through where the screws are that are under the rubber part of the rub rail. I am wondering if I need to take that rubber part off and caulk - or if I can spot caulk from the inside...I think there may be a few leaks in the stern too that leak into the blilge as we get a little water there if there is a torential rain.
Thanks for ideas.
I took my rub rail off about six years ago because I was getting a lot of leaks. I had talked to Rudy at D & R Marine about it and he told me that the caulking under the rub rails is only good for about 10 years. In my case though, I had used a cleaner on my hull and deck that contained Oxalic Acid and this stuff literally ate the caulking right out of it quick. My molding is Aluminum and it has a rubber strip inserted in it very similar to yours so I used BoatLife Boat Caulk. Like RW said, it's an easy job. On my boat, the rubber butts up at the stern and there's a screw holding each end of the rubber in place. What I did was remove the molding from one side, mark the areas where the screw holes are with pencil because there are probably more holes in the molding than there are screws used. Then I cleaned the area good, caulked it, and put the molding a back and inserted the rubber. Then I did the same thing to the other side. Believe it or not, this is an easier job than removing lifeline rail stanchions and caulking them. The molding can be done by one person, but you need two people to do the rail stanchions and you're going to break bolts. So I always tell people, "don't remove deck hardware unless you are absolutely sure that it's leaking, and don't use clearers on your deck that contain harmful acids." I just use good old soap and water. I just noticed a tiny leak on my Port side and I'm planning on attending to it this fall when I take her out of the water.
