CAL 2-25 Rub Rail Solution

Hello Everyone, After long fruitless searches on the internet for a RUB RAIL Insert Replacement for my CAL 25 Mk2. I decided about a year ago to try a different approach, that being find the closest fit and see if it works. At the end I got a rub rail insert to work but not without some work like anything in a sailboat. I posted Pics on the photo section Search for 1978 CAL 2-25 or Dragon Lady, the sequence should make the all process pretty self explanatory. The closest fit that I thought would work was TACO V12-4144 that unfortunately is available only in black. Needless to say that even on a hot day and with abundant soapy water on the insert the replacement did not fit. Just for trying I cut down a small section of the insert and trim the external lips to make it look closer to the original CAL insert, the result was very encouraging cause it fit the rail perfectly but obviously I had to do the trimming for the entire 50+ ft of the insert. Again just for trying I made up a wood guide (see pics) with internal dimensions to match the TACO overall measurements (about 1/2"x1-1/8"), two box cutter blades were placed in a way to trim down the outer lips of the insert and held by a clamp. It took a lot of push and pulling and soapy water but it worked! A rubber mullet is all I needed to install the final product of which I will post pictures hopefully soon. I hope this will be of some help to anyone who wants to venture this route I chose. Marco Dragon Lady CAL 2-25

that's a cool tool you created for the job . i have a 1971 cal 27 and it needs new rub rails. unfortunately, your solution won't work for me. my rub rail is entirely different. i'm not sure here to try to find replacement rub rail for it. ---In Ca… [at] yahoogroups.com, <muntasel@...> wrote : Hello Everyone, After long fruitless searches on the internet for a RUB RAIL Insert Replacement for my CAL 25 Mk2. I decided about a year ago to try a different approach, that being find the closest fit and see if it works. At the end I got a rub rail insert to work but not without some work like anything in a sailboat. I posted Pics on the photo section Search for 1978 CAL 2-25 or Dragon Lady, the sequence should make the all process pretty self explanatory. The closest fit that I thought would work was TACO V12-4144 that unfortunately is available only in black. Needless to say that even on a hot day and with abundant soapy water on the insert the replacement did not fit. Just for trying I cut down a small section of the insert and trim the external lips to make it look closer to the original CAL insert, the result was very encouraging cause it fit the rail perfectly but obviously I had to do the trimming for the entire 50+ ft of the insert. Again just for trying I made up a wood guide (see pics) with internal dimensions to match the TACO overall measurements (about 1/2"x1-1/8"), two box cutter blades were placed in a way to trim down the outer lips of the insert and held by a clamp. It took a lot of push and pulling and soapy water but it worked! A rubber mullet is all I needed to install the final product of which I will post pictures hopefully soon. I hope this will be of some help to anyone who wants to venture this route I chose. Marco Dragon Lady CAL 2-25