Breaking open the Awlgrip paint job was tough, but it was the best way to resolve the problem caused by thieves stealing my drip rails (and a lot of other stuff) back in May 2014. With the paint ground back on the joint between the top and bottom halves of the hard top, and new fiberglass and fairing compound laid over the joint, next we sanded the fairing compound and used fillets to smooth the edge.
First, sand down the fairing compound
The great thing about hot-coating home made epoxy fairing compound over fresh fiberglass is that you don’t have to get itchy twice. Sanding the fairing compound is much easier than grinding on fresh fiberglass (thereby weakening it) and applying fairing compound over that.
Gotta love fillets
Awlfair is a great product for fillet work. And on this project, we’ve done lots of fillets.
Later that day, after the Awlfair kicked, we sanded the fillets smooth
Next day, we taped off the boat and sprayed Awlquik
Bad lighting, good fillet
Without a drip rail, rain will tend to drip from all over the hard top, but I’m OK with that. One thing I’ve noticed is that boats with drip rails tend to get very nasty drip lines at the spot where all the rain drips off. This may not be a problem with boats outside of urban areas, but mine will definitely be an urban boat, and all of the dust that settles on the boat and gets washed off by rain will be evenly distributed now that I don’t have a drip rail.
That’s my theory, and I’m stickin’ with it. Gotta see a bright side in this whole theft thing somehow… 🙂
Next up on our 1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: The Helm Station Windshield Frame
1969chriscraftroamer46 
I’ve been waiting for the windshield frame episode. Lots of luck with it!
Can’t you fabricate some kind of a down spout to avoid drip lines?
Downspouts work with gutter systems. The original drip rails are a form of gutter system, but I no longer have a drip rail. On other boats I’ve had with something similar to a downspout, it’s a constant maintenance hassle. When they back up…oy…what a mess.