Figured I'd start at the sharpest angle at the point of the bow. Right away trying to make the curve I put a "kink" in the rail.

What's the trick for making this curve? Heat gun? BTW it's a plastic rail.

Yep, heat gun is a must for the tight curves.

I replaced one section on my 28 and it was a pain in da a$$.

I assume you are talking about the stickes of plastic. If you are talking about the rolls you can put them in hot water and it will soften them up. If you are using the sticks then heat gun works.

Jon

Also heat it from the back side, not the exposed front side.

how rigid is the rail? or should i ask ,who made it? you need to put a screw with a piece of thin wood dead center in the in the center of the hull/deck joint. use a heat gun and take your time ,your not dring hair and can burn or "brown" the rail (assuming it's white) and have a extra set of hands to pull.
you will have to put a "V" notch at the rear corners and use a product called "life seal" by boatlife, to fill any voids. stuff is great and works real easy. get it at west marine or any similar type store should have it in stock.

before making any v notch , take a extra piece and try. start at a 1/4" notch and bend around. another tip is to tape of the boat with a colored tape (blue) is easy to find and follow that as a guide otherwise you will have a "wavey" rubrail. and do not use pre exisiting holes to mount fill those with lifeseal or
3m and mark off on the boat the location of the old holes. good luck.

Ditto on what the other members said.........the first thing you need to do is heat up the entire rub rail sections. Gonna be tough due to where yuo live.

When I did my Midnight, I laid out the rolls of rub rail on black asphalt and I was amazed at how easy it was to work with after that.

It was nearly impossible to work with before.

Like one of the other members said, soak it in hot water, the hotter the better.

have fun

Thanks guys. The rub rail is in 20' "sticks" not rolls. It doesn't seem to stiff and it went around the bow okay but then I looked and there was a small "dimple" sticking downward. I removed it and heated it and the dimple went away so I should be able to re-use it on the sides/back. I'll try getting it warm and see if that helps.

I'm glad you brought this topic up.
I'm going to need to replace the aluminum rub-rail on my boat. what are tricks and tips foraluminum??

Jusr make sure not to over tighten the screws!!!!! You'll have dimples or a wavy appearance. Just make them snug.

go with rubber with a stainless insert..