Rub rails, also known as "Belting strips" as in something to take the impact when you run into something or something runs into you.
They look really good when oiled or gloss varnished but they look wickedly deadly when they are capped with a substantial brass or bronze strip that is highly polished and glints in the sunshine.
They serve as a warning beacon to other yachts not to bump into you or attempt to raft up to you.
However on a Top Hat 25 that would look ridiculous as they do not have the displacement or hull strength to back it up.
Maybe the yacht would look prettier if you removed the rubbing strips altogether, bogged the screw holes and painted with bright side. It would save you a few kilos and two less lines to cut in when painting your topsides
My second yacht was a beautiful 24' Spencer Adrian masthead sloop and after painting the topsides snow white and the antifoul black, I decided to make her look really flash with a dual colour red and blue boot topping. So that is three lines of cutting in instead of one. It looked great but I swore I would never make that mistake again.
It did help sell the yacht though along with the gloss varnished spinnaker pole, boom and cabin top grab rails.
