Rails & Other Bits | Finishing the Finish

I left the varnished rails to harden for several days before finishing them in the now usual way of wet sanding and polishing.

Rub rails, toe rails and companionway hood and slide grab rails were all initially wet sanded with P800 through to P2500 grits to achieve a smooth, flat surface.

Here we are sanding the port rub rail.

All rails were then buffed with P5000 and finally P9000 polishing compound to bring them to a nice shine.

This is the starboard rub rail being polished.

I did all the polishing by hand rather than use a machine. I found this to be more effective when finishing the spars, so continued the practice with the rails.

This is the companionway slide grab rail being finished.

I had previously managed to sand through to bare wood in a couple of places when wet sanding the drop board retainers, so I revarnished the bare patches and wet sanded them back to a smooth, flat surface before finishing them off with polishing compound. As here.

They turned out well.

And this is the starboard toe rail after polishing.

Things were starting to look quite nice!

The polishing was completed, and the great moment came when I pulled all the masking tape and coverings.

Here is a front view of the topsides.

And here is the side view from starboard.

This is a close up of the starboard rub rail at the bow.

All the sapele rails turned out really well, I'm relieved to say.

The ash grab rails on the companionway hood and slide turned out nicely too.

Here is the rail on the hood.

And here is the rail on the slide, back in the house for safe keeping.

The hull is nearly finished.

All I have to do now is finish painting the blue and white frame around the transom and tidy up inside the companionway hood and the cabin.

We should then be ready to start the fitting out!