My boat is screwed...

[eherlihy]

This may be a long shot, but here goes...

I removed the teak handrails on my 35' O'day. The handrails looked like crap, and would give you splinters if you tried to hold on to them.

Here is a pic that does not quite convey how bad these were, but it will give you an idea;

Those sorry looking things under the spacers are rubber gaskets, which I plan to replace with butyl tape.

The hand rails were attached using a #10-24 stainless steel screw that was cut down to 4Ľ". The screws were set into 7/16" recesses, and were run through the inner handrail, a spacer, the headliner, the deck, a rubber gasket, another spacer, and the outer handrail. There is also a washer under the head of the screw, and a nut set into the outer grab rail. The recesses were capped with teak bungs, which were epoxied into the recess. Here is a diagram of the attachment method;

And here is a picture of one of the screws;



Unfortunately, I buggered a couple of the screws during the removal process, and now I need some new ones. The only problem is, I can't find a source! The closest that I can find is a 4" screw. I've tried McMaster-Carr, D&R, and googled for hours... still no luck.

Suggestions? Sources?? HELP?!?

[sailingdog]

Eherlily—

try HERE. They have 5" 10-24 stainless steel screws.

[deniseO30]

When we did the hand rails on my O30 it was also a PITA. some also had to be replaced I found a few at west marine that worked. not the same as orginal. the one thing I would do different now would be to use Tnuts instead of washers and nuts. It took hours and hours to get them all back on the boat.

Found this--> http://www.boltdepot.com/product.asp...23&cm=6&cd=341

[sailingdog]

The t-nuts idea for one side is a very good suggestion. I've used t-nuts from Bolt Depot, and they're a great vendor, based right here in Weymouth, Massachusetts.



BTW, I have a lot of the 10-24 stainless steel t-nuts if you need some...let me know.

[Faster]

Redi-rod could be cut to length and nuts/washers used top and bottom as another alternative.

A long term solution would be to have SS handrails fabricated with threaded bases and then attach the interior rails to them from inside (req'd bolt length would likely be shorter too) - and no upkeep afterwards!

[eherlihy]

Dog - you're amazing!

Denise - I tried the WM route without success also. I also tried boltdepot, and have been on the same page. The longest there is 4"...

I'll let you know that I am currently planning to replace the teak with 11 gauge, 304 Stainless Steel, square tube. My plan ('du jour) is to drill and tap the holes. I believe that the 11 gauge should be thick enough to hold at least as well as the nuts on the weathered teak. This may also save me Ľ"-˝" of screw length.

Unfortunately, the Tnuts won't work if I use SS tube - but they would be GREAT for teak! Dog - thanks for the offer! (BTW - I STILL have your buckets in the back of my truck.)

[sailingdog]

Ed—

My googlefu is strong...

The teak has the advantage of being less slippery than stainless steel tube. It also looks nicer IMHO... but the steel is far lower maintenance.

[hellosailor]

Ed-
You're aware that stainless grab rails can get burning hot on summer days? Teak can be much kinder to the flesh.

[LakeSuperiorGeezer]

You cannot recess the screws into stainless tubing. The heads will stick up and perhaps nick the skin if you slide your hand along the tube. Also, if you tighten the screws much, you will collapse the tubing, squeeze it into an elliptical shape. About bolts, might try something a little larger in diameter where you have more choices; however, if you look in the phone book under fasteners in a city of about 100,000 or larger, you will usually find these suppliers with just about anything you can imagine. Do handrail anchors and attachments for lifelines go together for a sailboat? Do the designers ever do it that way?

[catamount]

Why not have threaded studs welded to the bottom of your stainless tube at the appropriate spacing. These studs would go down through your spacer blocks, deck, and into your interior handrails, where you would put nuts on them to secure everything.