Adding a spray rail???

[RedRascal]

I've been in chop with wind on two different CHB 34s and one was a dry ride and the other was a wet mess. Dry ride was the "model" with a smooth hull with a wooden rub rail that runs from the bow to the stern. In the bow section it sticks out about an 1.5". Wet ride boat was the model with fake carvel lines and a stout rub rail that runs from mid-ship to the stern. I found the amount of water coming aboard was ridiculous on the wet boat. A fair amount of water would come over the rail, across the forward cabin, up the windshield, bounce off the bottom of the flybridge brow then leak through the center opening window and drip on to the "dash". To reduce the water flow my approach is attach a 1"x1" piece of PVC board with 3m Very High Bond tape to the hull then use an adhesive to seal the gap between the PVC and hull created by the VHB tape. This is similar to how Smart Rails attach to a hull. I'll follow the line from the rub rail forward and hopefully the white of the PVC will blend in with the hull. Second picture the blue line shows where I'll add the PVC board on the wet boat. Has anyone done something similar in an attempt to dry out the ride? I know folks will add spray rails lower but I want something that will be above a 3-4' chop.

 

[psneeld]

.......

 

[Gdavid]

On non-planing hulls, I would expect to position smart rails or something similar a little higher up the hull as the style of boat tends to ride bow down compared to planing hulls. It wouldn't do any good for the spray rail to be fully below the water line when running, as they are unlikely to be large enough to change the attitude of the boat when running. I would run the boat in smooth water at your cruising speed, mark the location stem of the boat at water surface level (not the height that water is coming up the hull). Then run the rails from a couple of inches above this mark at the stem and gradually lower as they run aft.

I charter fished on a boat with smart rails added, the boat ran just fast enough that the rails increased the running attitude of the boat as well as deflecting spray. I would not expect the impact to running attitude on a boat running 10 knots or less.

 

[psneeld]

Spray rails in my experience are usually pretty far down the hull.

As the hull plunges, the spray from the chine and the spray rail is deflected outwards.

1.5 inches wide and far up the hull I would think would only stop water sheeting up the hull from coming aboard.

Did read that thinner spray rails with better down angle is more effective than wider spray rails. Seems most spray rails are for semi-planing or planing hulls over trawler speed hulls so pretty hard to come up with solid data on slower boats.

 

[rslifkin]

It sounds like water sheeting up the hull in some conditions might be the issue here. I don't see any kind of lip near the deck line on those hulls that would send water outward when it gets to the top of the hull, so it'll just go straight up. Something to kick the water outward before it hits the top of the hull would help.

 

[RedRascal]

First try at this was a fail. I am using PVC 5/4 X 3 1/2" house trim board ripped down to 1" x 1". My buddy and I could not get it to bend to the hull form. Used a heat gun to help but the compound curve of the hull was too difficult to match. PVC appears very floppy until you try to shape it to the bow of a CHB. So I'll try ripping it down to 3/4" x 1" and seeing if that will make a difference. Almost seems like PVC only wants to bend in two axis and I need it to bend in three. Wood may be my next quick answer, we'll see.

 

[DDW]

I'd like to fill my spray rails in. They make splashy noises all night. Sure wouldn't put them on if I didn't have them.

 

[RedRascal]

I am not sure if "sprays rails" is even the correct term for what I am doing. These are going to sit 3-4' above the water line more like a rub rail. Similar to the first pic I posted.

 

[O C Diver]

As mentioned, spray rails are much lower and larger than what's in your original picture. The objective is turn the water out from the hull near the ocean so that the wind and the forward motion of the boat doesn't bring the spray back on to the deck and house.

Below is a picture of my charter boat, a downeaster with proper spray rails.

Ted

 

[Keysdisease]

V21-0874WHA18

Spray Rail is a Rigid Vinyl Rub Rail that is designed to provide protection from water spray and keep the boat dry.

tacomarine.com

 

[lwarden]

I had them on my Shamrock, but that was a plaining boat. They were very effective, but as Ted showed on the down east boat they were placed very low, like 6" from the waterline. I don't know how effective they would be on a slower boat up high.

 

[Marco Flamingo]

How much chain in the anchor locker? Any thruster batteries forward? It could be a trim issue difference between the two CHBs. My trawler was a wetter ride with 365' of chain in the bow locker.