Taking the rub rail of my scarab and noticed about 80% of the fasteners are actually through bolted (what a pita by the way )

Are these fasteners actually helping to keep the halves together? They do go through both the upper and lower pieces??

Most boats, Yes they hold the halves together. Other, such as Fountain, glass the halves together from inside.

On many less expensive / high volume boats, the rub rail fasteners do double duty holding the rail on and holding the hull and deck together. Some manufacturers use screws, some rivets and some actually through bolt. Screws can unscrew, rivets can come loose, and through bolting - with Nyloc nuts - works the best. Unfortunatley, all of the above methods allow some movement between the two halves of the boat.

The best method - "tabbing" the hull and deck together after initial mating with strips of mat and resin - is by far the strongest, most desireable and most expensive. Done correctly, it actually creates a single piece hull and deck structure which is much stronger. Unfortunately, it also involves installing the interior after the deck is on. This requires hiring an army of Munchkins who can actually fit in there. And the Munchkin union is unbelieveably strong which leads to the higher costs. It is fun to hear happy Munchkins sing while they work though.

So this separates the quality builder(s) from others, how does pq do it, cuz if it's not up to my standards they are gonna get an ugly phone call

Let us know how that call goes. Better yet, if they answer.

I'm on hold right now....typing this on my playbook as I wait

My old Scarab 22 used the rub rail fasteners to help keep the deck and hul together (and there was a spot that was seperating, I caught it in time). Same with my older Baja. My Velocity is Glassed together. The 2 previously mentioned were production boats. THe Velocity is a custom built. You can definatly tell the difference between production and custom builders. No knock on the Scarab or Baja, as I loved both of them and you do get a lot of boat for the $$, but that is how you keep the price point down.

if they aren't glassed together on the inside the boat is a pos. The screws should be holding the rubrail only.

i had a friend replace the rubrail on his chris craft stinger. He didnt know that it wasnt glassed together. When he put the new one on some of the screws knocked off the wood strip on the inside. you could push the whole side of the boat in and reach inside the cabin from outside the boat!

My Scarab34 is glassed togeather - the rub rail is just that. I have had the cabin apart many years ago doing a remodel. and you can see the joint from the engine room.