I'm going to try making rub rails out of the composite deck material sold at
home centers. It seems to be the perfect thing for that application, comes in
assorted colors and could be easily replaced. We'll see how it works.

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Bob:

Look for the all plastic decking.  It will serve the purpose better than the
sawdust/plastic composites. None of them will give the structural stiffness
that a nice piece of White Oak, Ironwood, or Teak will, but the slipperiness
would be a benefit. Since you will need more than one layer, just fit the
outer layer so it can be easily replaced, making it sacrificial from the
beginning.

If you are replacing old beat-up wood rubrails, you might think about
cleaning them up, and adding a cap of the plastic, then you would have the
best attributes of both materials.

Woody
27 Marben
Port Orchard, WA

Bob,
I made a set of rubrails for a Pilgrim 40 last year, using the
polyethylene/wood fiber decking material from Home Depot.  Rubrail size is
2.8" wide by 1.1" thick, made by cutting a 5/4 x 6 decking board in half.
At the stern of the boat, I had to split the rail in half vertically, to be
able to make the rather tight bend of this round-sterned hull.  The whole
rubrail was bedded in 3M's 4200 polyurethane sealant, and bolted with 3/8"
stailness bolts about every 18".

All in all, the operation was a great success.  The decking material is a
little softer than I would like for an exposed railing (no stainless or
bronze half-round), about like pine.  The owner is very pleased with the
result, and won't have to worry about rot like the previous wood railing.
The gray decking color goes perfectly with the new gray and white paintjob
the boat just got.

Mark Richter, m/v Winnie the Pooh, Ortona, FL
Mark's Mobile Marine