RE: Cleaning P-15 Rub Rails / other maintenance

Eric Johnson (etj@nwlink.com)
Wed, 24 Nov 1999 10:59:48 -0800


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West Wight Potter Website at URL
http://www.lesbois.com/wwpotter/
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> In a message dated 11/24/99 10:31:33 AM Pacific Standard Time,
> etj@nwlink.com
> writes:
>
> > Do you think these solvents >clean< the vinyl, or do they
> >remove< a thin
> > layer?
>
> Based on my experience with a 15 year old rubrail, they do two things:
> remove the top layer of UV damaged vinyl and lift off grime.

Ok, thats kind of what I suspected, as I was getting tiny slivers of
material hanging off as I scrubbed. But, wow, it looks so much better I
could do this probably 1000 times before it removed any substantial amount
of material. I wonder if there's something we could put on to protect the
newly-exposed vinyl from further grime? like armor-all or something like
that?

On another front, I've been doing many gelcoat repairs lately, and after
trying all the scratch-patches and marine-tex, etc, I'm finding that
(surprise!) using real gelcoat paste with hardener takes the most work but
by far produces the most satisfactory repairs. Marine-tex is great for
filling holes, but gelcoat atop that gives the best overall satisfaction.
I've just been going over every tiny scratch and ding from the last dozen
years, in many cases dremel-ing out older fixes that have discolored.

I'm also in the middle of replacing the pathetic clog-prone 3/4" cockpit
drain with 1 1/2 fixtures. So far its going pretty well, but I haven't
figured out exactly how I'm going to make the sharp 90 degree bend from the
transom scupper to the cockpit drain (which is now a recessed unit with a
grate so the cockpit and crud can actually drain all the way out!). I'm
seriously considering going through the radiator hoses at the auto parts
store to try to find a pre-formed hose that will work. How have the rest of
you done this? I know a few of you have upgraded your drains.