Leaking at rub rail

[miata]

When I put the rail of my 23 down in heavy air water comes in via the rub rail. Can I caulk inside the hull or does the rail need to be removed and caulked?
Miata

[bro t]

Hi Miata,
a good quality caulk might stop the leak, but the fact that it is leaking is a sign worth looking at, and where will it spring next?  Doing it right the first time may be too much time and $ right now, but there's a great link to a guy's story of restoring a cp16 which included repairing the deck to hull joint, which may help you to see this as a viable and sensible option.  I think it was in the cp16 forum, one of the recent discussions with Rick Evans? about fixing up his 16.
bro t from Upwest Maine

[Gil Weiss]

Hi Miata,

If your rub rail is anything like that of a CP16, the best thing is to remove it for resealing the hull deck joint. You need to do this on a warm day as the rub rail will need to remain flexible to be restretsched back into position. When you remove the rub rail you should find a lot of dirt, dead bugs, etc. You will also find the remnants of a layer of white duck tape. Clean the mess up and remove the duct tape (or what is left of it). Alcohol or paint thineer can help with this mess. Then look carefully at the joint for spots where the original sealant is dried out, missing, etc. Scrape out all of the bad sealant, clean the surface with alcohol and reseal with 5200 sealant. Then put on a new layer of duct tape (you can buy the white stuff in a Home Depot) and reinstall the rub rail.

I did this on my CP16 and it was not as diffiult as I expected. Cleaning up the initial mess was the nastiest part.

[miata]

I called com-pac and talked to Woody who is in the shop he is 75 years old and has worked there forever and has owned a 23'.
The boat took on less than a pint of water in 6 hours of heavy air. Woody suggested caulking from the inside at the seam first. He said that it did not seem serious to him. He said it was a task to remove the rail on the 23.
I have a friend with a 16' and his rail can be pulled off easily, mine cannot.
Miata