Hand rails

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Craig
Posts: 86
Joined: Sat Oct 10, 2009 11:44 pm

Hand rails

Post by Craig »

The finish on my handrails is quite tired.
Wondering if anyone had just replaced the rails rather than sanding and refinishing them. If removing the old ones is not too difficult, it would be worth the money to buy new ones and varnish/bristol finish them rather than sanding etc.
Any thoughts?

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Michel
Posts: 546
Joined: Sun Dec 07, 2008 5:48 am
Location: Zaanstad, the Netherlands, EU

Re: Hand rails

Post by Michel »

All my exterior teak is bare and grey/whitish. I like that salty look and there is no maintenance. But taste is personal.

I wonder why you're thinking of replacing the handrail with wooden ones, because you have the same finish issue in three to five years. And you have to find handrails that fit the bolt hole locations in your deck. Possibly, you have to have the new rails custom made.

I removed the handrails of my F44 when the deck was spray painted. It's more difficult than it looks on that boat; don't know which model boat you have. First you have to remove the headliner. Then you find sawn off bolts that you first have to restore before you can remove the nut. Under the bungs in the handrail is a bolthead that often turns with the nut, mainly if the thread is damaged by the sawing off and the nut gets stuck. So you have to take out or make a hole in the bungs. I drilled the smallest possible hole (10 mm) in the bungs which allowed me to get a thin pipewrench on the bolthead and later put in new 10mm bungs inside the 20mm original bungs. I did not dare forcing out the original bungs because that would weaken the worn handrail and could mean breaking it. The handrails on an F44 are about 10 feet long, so maybe this is not a problem on your boat.

If you're looking for a lot of work without really visually of technically improving your boat and are not afraid to risk accidentally ruining the handrail or headliner, I'd say go ahead.
Michel Capel, Freedom 44 #4 1981 'Alabama Queen', NED8188, cat ketch with wishbones, home port Enkhuizen, the Netherlands, 52*42.238'N 005*18.154'E.

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mike cunningham
Posts: 489
Joined: Sat Dec 20, 2008 11:21 am
Location: Jacqueline, F30 #3, Discovery Bay, California

Re: Hand rails

Post by mike cunningham »

I took the handrails off my Mull 30 several years ago due to leaks. The headliner came out which was a pain but I had to replace that too so no biggie. BTW, having the headliner out lets you fix drooping headlined AND check for leaky deck hardware. I found several places where there was no leak into the cabin but I could see the black, rotted core where water was getting into the core from the deck. You can see it through the interior fiberglass laminate which is clearish. Spent more time fixing the rot than the headliner and the handrails combined.

The handrails themselves were secured to the deck by large SS flat head screws/washers which came out quite nicely with a big phillips screwdriver. I took them off to completely refinish them and fix afoementioned leaks. I religiously varnish them but its a big pain in the butt as you well know. I also bot covers but that has its own problems.

I singlehand my boat and I have been thinking of replacing the handrails with a longer stainless steel rails outside and on the cabin ceiling inside. I have gone forward many a time sliding on my butt and praying my jackline and tether were up to scruff. Sure would be nice to have a few more feet of handrail to hold in a deathgrip. There are fabricators who can do a nice job of matching handrail bases to the original wood rail bases so things don't look funky.

Someone did this handrail replacement and posted some pics on the Yahoo board. Looks really nice I think.

Mike
Mike Cunningham
Freedom 30 (Mull) Hull #3
Build date...June, 1986 . Freedom Yachts USA, sloop, shoal keel
Gun Mount and pole retrofitted (purchased from a Hoyt Freedom 32)
Yanmar 2gm20F , 1600 hrs fixed two blade prop
e-rud and ocean racing equipment

Tricia
Posts: 107
Joined: Fri Dec 05, 2008 9:59 pm

Re: Hand rails

Post by Tricia »

Mike, what's the problem with the rail covers?

AlanK
Posts: 127
Joined: Wed Dec 10, 2008 6:59 pm
Location: Freedom 33 Boston, MA USA

Re: Hand rails

Post by AlanK »

One of the best things i did on my F-33 was add SS cabintop handrails. I left he teack ones as they were too low to be very effective anyway and added foot high SS rails outboard of them. Very secure and a great safety at aid at sea. Also holds the dinghy between them. Cost for the rails and bases made custom to the curves was $800 a couple of years ago. Attached are a couple of pictures.
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mike cunningham
Posts: 489
Joined: Sat Dec 20, 2008 11:21 am
Location: Jacqueline, F30 #3, Discovery Bay, California

Re: Hand rails

Post by mike cunningham »

Those retrofit rails look good! I think they would be a bit high for my 30. I had planned on increasing the height to about that of the traveler so I could get a good solid grip without interfering too much with the open deck. I would also replace the existing rails. I don't have as much room to play with as you do.

Answering the question re problems with wood rail covers.
1. They gather dust and gunk underneath the cover. I happen to be in an area where there is a lot of dust in the wind (California Delta) so maybe not such a big deal elsewhere.
2. My slip is exposed to occasional breeze which is enough the flap the covers around a little. This causes abrasion on the deck. could be fixed with proper cover design but sheesh, I got better things to do than design the perfect rail cover.
3. The covers are small slivers of material easily lost overboard if you are the least bit careless

It is true you can let the rails go native however I figure you get a twofer if you replace with stainless: improved functionality , no maintenance
Mike Cunningham
Freedom 30 (Mull) Hull #3
Build date...June, 1986 . Freedom Yachts USA, sloop, shoal keel
Gun Mount and pole retrofitted (purchased from a Hoyt Freedom 32)
Yanmar 2gm20F , 1600 hrs fixed two blade prop
e-rud and ocean racing equipment

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