Do rails make your deck last longer?

[BartHarleyJarvis]

Settle an argument: In my mind, rails prolong the life of my board, especially for the skating I do (mostly low impact/curbs/skatepark). They protect the graphic/bottom ply of my deck and I think they provide additional strength. That being said, I'm a HUGE idiot and this is mostly based on *~*ViBeS*~*

Some of my friends disagree. I also know that some people think drilling the screws into the board will weaken it. I'm mostly wondering what other peoples thoughts are.

[manysnakes]

The strength of the skateboard comes primarily from 7 cross-laminated plies of wood. Adding two plastic braces at the outermost edge of the skateboard is not significantly contributing to the strength or longevity of a skateboard, just as the eight small holes at the edge are not in any meaningful way weakening the deck.

[streetmeat]

long time rail guy here. no.

[Uncle Flea]

Definitely not. It can hold your bloard together after a break but screwing stuff into your bloard will always make the chances of getting that initial break higher I believe.

I wish I had some rails too. I just can't ever remember that when I have money. Also buying the plastic kinda makes me feel badly.

I should ask some of the younger homies if anyone has an old set. I'd def skate some old tummy sticks or whatever. I love orange rails. I'd trade them something cool for um if needed but I've given product to locals so I know they would not charge me probably if they got

[Streebo]

No but the graphic yes

[GBLange]

rails give me that extra mental support

[Bigfoot is real]

As a relatively light, pj ladd/ kalis inspired skater, the wheelbase of the board has rarely if ever been the reason I retire a deck.
Razor tail and or chipped nose and tail account for 99% while 1% is just when the board is too old and has no rebound/pop left and feels unreactive - typically after skating perfect ground indoor parks or whatever garages for 5-7 months of the winter.

then again my option is invalid since I have never skated rails and never plan to, since it falls outside the realm of WWKD.