bent bow pulpit

[Rockter]

If you heat the stainles, you will lose the corrosion resistance of the heated zone. Apparently the heat drives the chrome into the centre of the grain boundaries, and it corrodes.

I would not heat it.

[SEMIJim]

The problem with doing it off the boat is going to be maintaining the hole pattern for the stanchions. The pros that fixed our stern rail used a large sheet of paper and registered the stanchion locations and hole patterns so that when they rebuilt the one stanchion and straightened-out the others, everything would line up properly when they went to re-install it.

(The above is why we had them do the entire job, removal, repair and re-installation, rather than us doing the removal and re-installation. For the extra couple hundred bucks, it was worth it.)

Jim

[TrueBlue]

My starboard pulpit rail was bent prior to purchase as well, but in an upward direction. I assumed either the bow came down on the top of a short piling during heavy weather or the PO rammed something.

After she was in her new home at my marina for a while, I decided to try and straighten the rail myself, using a 36" long pony pipe clamp and a 24" length of 2x4.

I placed one end of the vertically positioned clamp over a 2x4 laid across the top rail and the other clamp end secured to a protective wood block beneath the lower bow rail. With slow rotations of the clamp screw, the top pipe eventually was drawn down to it's original shape.

No marks or kinks in the stainless tubing at all - good as new.

[Sasha_V]

Nice job, Mr TB.

I get asked to do this kind of repair for people with mind numbing regularity...it is hard to see the best approach without taking a close look at the actuall specific problem...but here are a few methods I use...

For some deflections you can just heat shrink it back into shape. Steel always contracts more then it expands...so you can heat it a certain way with a torch and it will deform into the right shape as it cools...this is maybe not a game for the begginer. Heating stainless reuqires that you pickle it afterwards or it will indeed corrode. Fortunately this is easy to do with the new pickle gels...just paint them on and hose off 50 minutes later.

Whether using the comealong "pull" method or the jack "push" method, always consider where force is going and what might be deformed as a result. Big wooden blocks to spread the load are your friend!

In order to not flatten the tube, I have a range of router bits that give me a perfect half-round trench in the hardwood I put them though. I use the right sized bit for the size of tube I am working with. Cut the timber to the shape I want (The pster that mentioned springyness in stainless is right, if you want to bend to dead flat, it helps to go ever so slightly concave on the timber you are making the former from) and then run the router along the timber in order to make a "shape" that will not flatten the tube. I can then use a jack or clamp to apply force.

If I am working on pushpits or pullp its that are off the boat, I will use one fo those chipboard flooring sheets and bolt the thing down so as to have the mounting holes in the same place when I am finished as when I started. A sheet costs about $30 and I have used one sheet for about 10 projects, including welding...It sure beats swearing and cursing when stuff doesn't line up right when it comes time to put it all back together.

Sasha