Is there a post somewhere about removing the rub rail and fill in the gap and holes the "correct" way as to not get cracks in the paint later on.

Good question, i have the same just didnt want to ask it

2sav

 i would think Kitty hair its bondo with alot of fiber glass in it i used it to fill some holes in my boat and not cracks have apeared YET .its a pain in the ass to work with though good luck guys just my.02

Here is some good info that jrork posted on his thread here: http://www.socaljetboats.com/index.php?topic=1689.0

I was going to suggest the same link!  You beat me to it Brad.

  Greg

Old School Caps are done this way...  Get inside and lay up some extra glass 3-4 inches each side of the seam just to make sure you don't grind through from the outside.  Then grind down the outside 2-3 inches each side of the seam making sure you completely remove the joint ( down to the glass originally used to join the hull and deck together.  Then glass in a cap 4-6 inches wide over the seam with probably two-three layers of 6oz. mat. under a layer of glass cloth.  Once well worked out remove the cloth and brush down any hairs with some extra resin.  Apply a final coat or resin with a finisher additive to let it kick off properly.  After a good set, grind to shape  sand it down then use only a skim coat of bondo to fill the imperfections and sand the whole thing down with a long flat sanding board.  Mask and use a good thick polyurethane sanding primer build it up pretty good then sand most of it off with progressively finer wet-or-dry until your to about 400 grit.  Re-mask and paint. or if your a real glutton for punishment gel coat it.  Then color sand and buff.  This will assure that if you ever flip your boat doing mach 2 the recovery team can retrieve the remains by snagging the intact cap with a grappling hook.  On second thought take it to B&K Boat Repair and have Ken do it.

Thanks for the info guys...Wonder where Tom is?

i just talked to him....sounded like he had a really busy day.

Old School Caps are done this way...  Get inside and lay up some extra glass 3-4 inches each side of the seam just to make sure you don't grind through from the outside.  Then grind down the outside 2-3 inches each side of the seam making sure you completely remove the joint ( down to the glass originally used to join the hull and deck together.  Then glass in a cap 4-6 inches wide over the seam with probably two-three layers of 6oz. mat. under a layer of glass cloth.  Once well worked out remove the cloth and brush down any hairs with some extra resin.  Apply a final coat or resin with a finisher additive to let it kick off properly.  After a good set, grind to shape  sand it down then use only a skim coat of bondo to fill the imperfections and sand the whole thing down with a long flat sanding board.  Mask and use a good thick polyurethane sanding primer build it up pretty good then sand most of it off with progressively finer wet-or-dry until your to about 400 grit.  Re-mask and paint. or if your a real glutton for punishment gel coat it.  Then color sand and buff.  This will assure that if you ever flip your boat doing mach 2 the recovery team can retrieve the remains by snagging the intact cap with a grappling hook.  On second thought take it to B&K Boat Repair and have Ken do it.

Wizard is spot on but I will add one extra thing that I was told to do by a number of folks on the evil board. After grinding back the glass, take acetone and thouroghly (sp?) clean the area you will be glassing and then mix a coat of resin/hardener and "wet out" the area first before you start laying the fabric. I will also add that if you want you can add some Collodial Silica in the last batch of resin and it thickens it up so it doesnt run off your boat.  I built a dam of tape to hold the stuff in there so it didnt run but it still got away from me a couple places.

Good luck and if there's anything I can do to help (besides actually doing it ) plz let me know. I've never done it before and it turned out really nice so if I can do it, anybody can......john

I asked John Miller about removing the rub rail on my 1975 Miller and here's what he had to say...

The alum molding is there just to cover the seam, not for strength.  However, if you do remove it and just fill the seam it will crack.  You have to grind a V into it about an inch wide and lay in fiberglass mat strips, then fair it in and paint the trim.

Now this is for the Miller so I don't know about other makes.