New rub rail material?

[Deering]

I've been looking for rub rail materials for some ply/epoxy boat projects.

But I'm cheap.

I can buy rubber rub rails with mounting channels, but I don't like them for two reasons - one, I'm cheap and they aren't; and two, they generally have to be mechanically fastened to the boat - screws which cause water intrusion problems after the rub rail bounces off a few pilings and loosens the connections. I want a rail I can epoxy on.

I could make wooden rails with glass sheathing, but eventually the sheathing gets damaged (I'm a boat abuser) and it's also pretty hard for bumping against composite boat hulls.

I could just use uncoated wood, but here in SE Alaska it rains alot - untreated wood degrades fast and looks like crap. Paint gets scraped off.

I could use UMHW, but that stuff isn't cheap, and it too needs to be mechanically fastened.

Then I had an inspiration: Trex decking. That's the stuff made out of ground up recycled plastic (polyethylene mainly) and wood fibers and extruded out into 2-by boards. It doesn't rot, is UV stable, doesn't need/want paint, is color-fast, and can be cut, routed, and sanded by ordinary woodworking tools. It's tough and abrasion resistant but becomes slippery under a heavy shear load and has a little bit of give to it for impacts. Best of all - it's pretty cheap (like me), available at Home Depot instead of marine stores.

The disadvantages that I see are few - limited color selection, and unproven in this application.

I made up some test coupons to see if epoxy would adhere to it. Works great! While epoxy doesn't stick to plastic, there's enough wood fiber in Trex for it to get a bite. When I chiseled the coupons apart the material failed before the glue joint. I tested gluing it to itself, to bare plywood, and to previously glassed wood. Worked well on all of them.

I think this would work for skid plates too - not as slick as UMHW, but still pretty slick if you sand it smooth.

Is this a workable idea, or am I missing something here?

[gonzo]

I think it should work.

[Raggi_Thor]

Some people uses flexible hoses, rubber hoses?

[JR-Shine]

I used 1/4" HDPE cut into strips for the rubrail of my flats boat - works great. Fastened down with stainless screws and 5200