grab rail removal
 

Has anyone ever removed the rail that goes around the sides and back of the engine hatch pad on a mid to late sr1 or fastech? If so, how hard was it to remove and what did you cover the holes with?

I took the rails off an older 302 and, with two people, it wasn't bad. You need the second person to hold the nut on the bolt, while the top person holds, or unscrews, the bolt. Some of the nuts we're "glassed in" but just keep working it and you can get them loose. As far as patching the holes, just use any of the many products out there for such. Matching the color is the hard part, plus just be very patient in the sanding and buffing. If done right you can really do a good job. If you really wanted to be thorough, glass the underside, plus that gives you a "stop" for the "topside" material to set against.

I am in the process of removing the rails on my 1991 311. The removal is the easy part, filling the holes like Outlaw said is the hard part. If you are planning on painting the boat it is rather simple. Just glass from the inside and then fill the holes from the top. Sand smooth then paint. If you are not planning on painting the boat I don't realy know of a good way to match the gel coat.

Matching the gel coat is just good old trial and error. Obviously, start with white and just BARELY tint, try several different colors to tint with as each boat may be just slightly different in color. A good test when you think you're done sanding is this, take a flashlight at night and run the beam across the spot by holding the flashlight at an angle. The light beam of the flashlight will make any imperfections, or high or low spots just jump out at you, mark them with tape or something so you know just what needs to be addressed. When it passes the flashlight test, it will be mirror smooth. I think 3M's formula 27 seems to work pretty well and was a very close match to the old 302. Like I said, this is one job where patience is a virtue.


You could always get creative and devise some graphic running down the length to cover the holes if you can work it into your grafic scheme in some manner where it looks like it's supposed to be there, not just hiding a bunch of holes.

My 302 came originally equiped with an arch. The previous owner removed it, I assume patched the holes, and then put non slip material similar to upside down black sandpaper over the holes. I would have never know the holes were there if he hadn't told me.