Handrails: You can see your PlasTeak choices at Custom Handrails, Boat Hatches, Custom Sink Covers, Boat Platform Inserts and More - PlasTEAK Inc.
They offer them in 7/8ths and 1-3/8ths inch diameters. I chose the larger as providing better grip, and made them a bit higher than the teak handrails they replaced in order to provide a better foot stop if I needed that while up on the curved cabintop. Their online order form asks you to provide:
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Handrail overall length, the distance from the end to end at the handrail’s bottom.
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Height, which they define as from the cabintop to the top of the rail. (Note that the height underneath will be that height minus the diameter you choose.)
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Foot length, which is the length of the bases where the handrail will attach to the cabin top
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Arch length, which is the distance between bases
Because there’s a foot (i.e., a base) at each end, there’s one more base that arches, so for your measurements to be consistent and add up, Length = 1 Base Length + (Number of arches * (Arch Length + Base Length)). You can figure this out pretty easily by measuring your current handrails.
A key catch is that PlasTeak doesn’t hold screws well. You could choose to just gamble and use long screws anyway. I chose to throughbolt them. If I was to do it over, I’d proceed a bit differently than I did, but I’d still throughbolt them. With the wisdom of hindsight, the way I’d do it is as follows. Remove the old handrails, which were simply screwed in with square-head wood screws. Drill out the holes to the diameter you pick for through bolts, plus whatever you choose to do to prevent water from getting to the wood core. The bungs they sell are 3/8", so keep in mind that whatever diameter you pick, the head of the replacement bolts must be less than that.
Use the location of the first screw in the old rail to mark where to drill a bolt hole all the way through the new rail. On the top of the rail, enlarge the hole part way down just large enough for your bolt head to fit and just deep enough for the bung which will later cover it. Temporarily fasten the rail to the cabintop at that first hole. You can then (carefully) drill the rest of the holes by having someone on deck hold the rail in position, one base at a time while another person inside drills up from underneath. Repeat this procedure one base at a time until you get to the other end. The handrails are very flexible, much more than the teak they’re replacing, so it’s easy to get the handrail in position this way.
Once you’ve got them all drilled, remove the temporary fastenings, take the rail off, put butyl tape on the bases and a little wrapped around each bolt, put them back on, bolt them firmly with fender washers inside, and install the bungs. If you have to enlarge the holes through the cabin liner through which you access the screws, it’s easy to find replacement clip-in covers at any big hardware store.
Here’s a picture where you can see both the handrail and the eyebrow (I’ll talk about the eyebrow in the next post), taken before I put plugs in the countersunk fastener holes.
– Bob
Me Gusta
Nonsuch 26U #233
