bow rail ?

[willin]

i have a 91' 221, considering removing the bow rail, because it is in the way when i throw a cast net and i think the boat looks better without it. anyway my question is what should i fill the screw holes with . the rail is in great shape and i may want to reinstall it one day if i decide to sell it . any suggestions are appreciated

[HungOne]

epoxy and cabosil mixture. or..... what you can do is what I plan on doing. The bow rail will go back on my rebuild except it will have 1 inch posts all the way around so I still have a grab rail but it's low profile.

[md makomyday]

removed mine with in the frist week of buying the boat (brand new) ,still hanging from the rafters in my garage . Filled the hole and the next owner reinstall if they wish . jose

[Capt. Andy]

took mine off too! counter sunk holes and put some silicone and flat head stainless..than cut some equal size pieces of no skid tape and coivered them up. perfect for serious net guys like us ,adds a foot no skid every couple feet and actually looks great!!9plus it was super easy)

[mako224]

Removing the bowrail was the first project I did when I got my boat. I filled the holes with filler then ground it down slightly and filled it with Mako gelcoat. 5 years later you really have to look to even know the rail was ever there. It improved the look of the boat 100% and cast nets and fly rods are no problem.

[willin]

thanks for the replys, this is the second 23 ft mako i have owned ,the first was an 83' and its previous owner had installed a low profile rail which stood about 6" at highest point. looked real nice and was much more friendly for cast net etc. i have seen a couple 221 ish boats with the rail completely removed and they look really nice . thanks for the input . when i pull the boat in a couple of weeks and start the project i will try to post some photos .

[mubikS]

Never had one, never wanted one. I've always gotten my feet caught in them when trying to get on and off of the boat.

[Trident]

I temporarily filled my holes in with 5200. In the spring they will be ground out and reglassed. No putty for me...dont want them popping out in a few years.

Ed

[kswin]

I've never had one, and don't plan on getting one. They just seem to take away from the clean line of the boat, plus castneting is a lot easier.

[amlsml]

if you guys have a good rail for a 77 mako 22 let me know. I love the rail and mine is kinda beat soo e-mail em at [email protected] and i will take it off your hands

[Randumhookup]

I took mine competely off too, i may have went a little overboard, but i ground out enough to lay some glass in and then cabosil and gel coat to fill the whole area. I was doing a complete repaint on the topsides. It definately makes the boat look a whole lot better with out the rail on. The boat is in Sneads Ferry if you ever want to take a look.

[cgmiller]

For what it's worth, amuch simpler method is to use white Marinetex Epoxy to fill in holes, gel coat chips, etc. I have used quite a bit of it on my boat as the old aluminum bow rail has been removed (and the boat looks much better) along with many old fastners, etc. The marintex can be drilled, sanded and when wet, can be smoothed with a wet finger or cloth. [8D]

[Capt. Andy]

Thais what i was describing..