Toe Rail

[Undadar]

Howdy,

My boat is a Hunter 34 with an aluminum toe rail. The PO had "sealed" between the toe rail and hull (inside of rail) with clear silicone. I know this is nearly always a bad thing. I have removed most of the silicone and mold that grew underneath it.

Question is: should this area be sealed or treated in any way? If so, what is the best thing to use? Seems to me that it should not but figured I had better double check.

As an aside, the PO had also attached a wood "rail" to the aluminum rail. This looked ok initially but was in need of maintenance so I removed it. Looks better now, me thinks. Before and after photos in this blog entry.

Thanks!

[sawingknots]

i don't see any benefit to putting sealer under a toe rail except at the screw holes,no sealer, that area can dry out quicker,sealer will invariable retain mosture,perhaps a strip of butyal tape slightly wider than the screw holes

[Faster]

..especially 'clear silicone'... usually the 'vinegary smelling' stuff that really has no place on a boat. And quite difficult to fully remove.

I can't recall if that particular vintage of Hunter has the out-turned hull deck flange.. I think it does.. in which case leaks into the hull are extremely unlikely and I can only imagine the 'sealing job' had to do with the ill-advised wood rail addition.

Much cleaner look without, and a lot less work.

[Undadar]

Thanks guys. In my case, the silicone was not under the rail but rather on the inboard side of the rail. I've added a couple photos to this post on my blog - hopefully that makes it clear.

Faster: I did some research on deck flange styles and understand now what you are talking about. You are correct, it is an out-turned style.