rub rails

[Eye Hunter]

Had a little accident with the dock and my 620 how hard is it to change the rub rail on a 620 any info would be great.

[went522]

Originally Posted by Eye Hunter

Had a little accident with the dock and my 620 how hard is it to change the rub rail on a 620 any info would be great.

Do you need the entire rub rail or just the insert? If it's just the insert it's not a bad job. Find where the rail ends on the transom, get a hold of the insert. Screw driver, needle nose plyers and channel locks will help. Pry the insert out and get a good grip with the channel locks, once you get a few feet out of the track you can just start pulling by hand, leather glove helps. Just walk around the boat and pull, it'll come out. Might hit some tight spots but it'll come...pull. Ranger should have the insert. Installing it takes time, start again on the transom, work the insert in the channel, little by little, inch by inch. I used a small scrapper to help guide it into place. Some spots can be tough, especially corners!! Another tool that came in REALLY handy was one of the rollers used for setting screen spline. I just happened to grab one to try, worked really well. They're cheap, get the metal one with both the concave and convex rollers, not plastic. I found both rollers came in handy at different times.

If you have to remove/replace the entire rail, do the above. Then you'll see all the screws that hold the deck to the hull...lots and lots of screws! Get the cordless drill and the proper bit, make sure the bit is a good fit to the screw, you want to save the screws and not damage the heads. Remove all the screws.

Reinstall the new rail more than likely the holes aren't going to line up...do what you have to do to get the screws installed straight and snug. Stand back and eyeball the install every few feet just to make sure your not getting off line. Once you have your track installed, start working the insert in as stated above. A extra set of hands/eyes is helpful.

My bud and I did his in a long evening, we took our time, the rail is pretty expensive... Don't rush through it. Really made a change to the looks of the boat, the old rail was pretty ugly, gouged/scratched/dented. Once the new black rail was on it looked like a different boat.

Good luck

BIRDDOG

[Eye Hunter]

Thanks