okay brains trust, it's time to do something about the gunwale which is now missing its rotted old wooden rub rail...

we are thinking about cleaning it up and epoxying or fibreglassing it over, rather than replacing the wooden rail. would sealing in the heads of the bolts be a bad idea?

any tips or better ideas about how to do the repair?

I am doing my gunwhale repair apprenticeship as we speak, so not fully qualified yet!

What are the screws doing? Maybe they are old fixing screws for the timber? If they are I'd remove & glass them over, but
If your docking style is anything like mine, your gonna want some nice soft timber there to take the brunt of the impact imho.
It is amazing what you can do with a grinder & epoxy filler tho' if you want the "Gucci" look .
There is some rule about toe rails if your racing that dkd put un the Toe Rail Repair Thread

good question! i wasn't there when the rub rail came off. the deck is glassed to the hull and the bolts are quite sparsely placed so you may be right, maybe they did originally just hold the rub rail in place. i will investigate further...