Rub rails on a wood-canvas canoe

I have some questions about rub rails on a w/c canoe. Asking for a friend.

Are they just decorative or do they actually serve some purpose?
Are they usually hard wood or soft wood?
Usually oiled or varnished?
If they get all scuffed up, do you have to tape above and below them to re-varnish or re-oil them, or is there some easier way?

While no expert, I have some opinions to share.

I’m assuming you are referring to the outer rail of a wood canvas canoe ‘gunwale’, which may be more accurately called the outwale. The corresponding inner rail would be the inwale. Combined they become the gunwale. I suppose rubrail refers to a sacrificial element of a larger boat which might spend time tied to a dock or other boat.

Although clearly a pleasing element of the finished canoe, the outwale serves several purposes including helping to secure and protect the top edges of both the canvas & planking, as well as work in concert with the inwale to create a light but strong ‘frame’ linking the ribs and planking into a single strong structure. It’s this structure which enables the hanging of the seats, fastening of the thwarts & decks. Although shaped and fastened in individual processes to become the gunwale, it’s the final linking of the outwale to the inwale, with significant arcs in both horizontal and vertical planes, which imparts immense strength to hold the entire hull together!

Inwales are usually softwood such as Spruce, while outwales are typically Ash, or in some higher grade canoes, Mahogany or Cherry.

In my experience always varnished- with spar varnish which retains some elasticity, not polyurethane based varnish which hardens and isn’t suited to the expansion & contraction of wood exposed to the elements. With regard to applying varnish I suppose it’s like the ability to cut in wall paint to a ceiling; if you‘re a steady hand it can be done but tape is surely easier!

Sorry, Patrick and others, but I didn't mean outwale. My use of "rub rail" was perhaps misleading, but I think that is the most used term along with "trim rail". They are below the outwale but above the waterline on some w/c canoes and often separate two differently painted areas. Here are three pictures:

Yes taping both sides is the way to do it. Pull the tape immediately after you finish with the varnish, don’t wait till the varnish is dry.
I have a lot of experience and would usually tape just the lower edge when on sawhorses. I could then cut in as the term is called on the top edge and varnish up to the tape on the underside.
Does that make sense?
Jim

Beautiful boats by the way.

For the ones you posted, I would guess that they are primarily decorative, even if they originally had a more functional purpose. I've seen them on Grand Lakers as well, which I assumed were to deflect spray at speeds you'll never attain with a paddle.

Those are spray rails, not quite sure why they are on paddling canoes, unless they are using a side mount. I regret not putting them on my 20 foot freighter, as it can turn into a wet ride for me in the stern when a wind is blowing.

I have never done a canoe with them so I am not sure what type of wood was used - on Old Towns for example. I think they were mostly decorative, and look good with two tone paint jobs, but might save some wear and tear against a dock or something.

They are mostly seen on older canoe so I am thinking they might have been on livery canoes, one for rent and maybe spent time in the water by a dock or rubbing against each other.
Jim

memaquay said:

Those are spray rails, not quite sure why they are on paddling canoes, unless they are using a side mount. I regret not putting them on my 20 foot freighter, as it can turn into a wet ride for me in the stern when a wind is blowing.

Click to expand...

This is the exact reason I am thinking about adding them to by Chestnut Vee stern. I always believed they were for overspray and docking. "rubbing" against the dock when tied off.

Oops... and here i went blathering on about outwales/gunwales! Egg on my face!

I would agree... mostly decorative to accentuate divided paint schemes.

Of course, rub rails (trim rails) may primarily be aesthetic, a fancier way to separate a two-tone paint job than a pin stripe.

However, now that I own a wood/canvas canoe with rub rails and have done some more reading about w/c canoes, I believe the functional purpose of rub rails is to protect the paint from rubs, abrasions and scratches when bumping against a dock, or another canoe, or a rock, or a hard place. Classic wood/canvas canoes were often tumblehomed, and the rub rail would be placed along the line of maximum tumblehome beam.

You see, before couples went for drives in cars or even bicycles, places with romantic waterways, such as Belle Isle in Detroit or the Charles River in Boston, were often congested with livery canoes on weekends or date nights for concerts and other pleasures. And all those liveries docked or stacked their painted wood-canvas canoes when they weren't in use.

That is just what I was talking about Glenn, thanks for that old pic of all those canoes packed in there.
Jim

Yeah, I thought they were spray rails too and looked purely decorative. I never considered they might be a canoe version of boat fenders.

Odyssey said:

I never considered they might be a canoe version of boat fenders.

Click to expand...

Yeah, when I muckled up with other plastic or composite canoes while floating in the middle of a lake or down a river, especially canoes with flared hulls, I never even thought about abrasion damage. But when you have a decorative and perhaps expensive paint job on your tumblehomed canvas canoe, I can see how the canoeist's mind, if not the paint, could become sensitive about frictional touch.