Just finished my $20 pvc hand rails

kito

kito

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Sep 13, 2012
2,011
1979 Hunter Cherubini 30 Clemmons
I got 2 113" long hand rails out of a 1" thick pvc board I bought at Lowes. It cuts and routes very nice. I was wanting to paint them black but dark colors are not recommended by CertainTeed. I may just leave white or paint a light tan with acrylic latex paint. I won't be able to mount them until I paint the cabin top first with Kiwigrip. I think they will work just fine though. I clamp it down to the table to test the strength of the hand hold area and seems very sturdy. They are about 2.5 wide with the cut out about 1.25. I cut the cutouts with just an upcut HSS spiral bit in one pass. Cuts like butter.
 

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kito

kito

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Sep 13, 2012
2,011
1979 Hunter Cherubini 30 Clemmons
I ripped the board and routed out the hand hold cuts a couple nights ago. That was quite a mess and I did sweep up. I just routed all the edges with a quarter round today and 90% of it stuck to my pants and jacket. :) Need to invest in an apron I guest.
 
Bad Obsession

Bad Obsession

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May 23, 2004
3,319
I'm in the market as were . Colonial Beach
The mess looks like it was worth it. That looks really good.

The biggest plus....No worrying about Cetol, varnish, or any other finish!!

It is better to sail than to maintain.
 
Dalliance

Dalliance

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Oct 6, 2007
1,030
Hunter H30 1982 Chicago IL
Looks great, Kito. If by "....may just leave them white....", you mean leave them unpainted, don't do that. UV damage will eventually yellow and weaken PVC. You need to paint them. Light colors make sense. Don't want a handrail too hot to touch on a sunny day.

PS: I could be wrong. Double check the manufacturers recommendations, but for $20, I doubt you have a PVC product with particularly high UV resistance.
 
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kito

kito

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Sep 13, 2012
2,011
1979 Hunter Cherubini 30 Clemmons
Dalliance said:
Looks great, Kito. If by "....may just leave them white....", you mean leave them unpainted, don't do that. UV damage will eventually yellow and weaken PVC. You need to paint them. Light colors make sense. Don't want a handrail too hot to touch on a sunny day.

PS: I could be wrong. Double check the manufacturers recommendations, but for $20, I doubt you have a PVC product with particularly high UV resistance.
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I thought the same thing. I thought they would eventually turn yellow and brittle like a cheap resin chair. After looking over the CertainTeed website, this stuff is designed not to be painted and used for house trim. It has a 25 year warranty against rot and yellowing. A 1" x 5.5 wide and 10 foot long board is $39, so not particularly cheap. I figure at $20 a piece I can replace them in 5 or 10 years. I will keep my router template just in case. Probably took me 3 hours to make these including the template.
 
Dalliance

Dalliance

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Oct 6, 2007
1,030
Hunter H30 1982 Chicago IL
Great. You did your research. I some how skipped over the reference to Certainteed in your original post. They're a good company. Glad I was wrong. Always learn something new on this site.
 
centerline

centerline

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Mar 20, 2012
3,983
Cal 34-III, MacGregor 25 Salem, Oregon
those do look good...

but the fun easy part is over.... now its time for install.

I wish all I ever had to do was create and build, and have someone else do the install for me... cuz if there are any headaches in the project, thats where i will find them, during the install....
 
Scott

Scott

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Sep 24, 1997
242
Hunter 31_83-87 Middle River, Md
Kito,

They look absolutely fantastic!!! Great job. :)

Scott
 
kito

kito

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Sep 13, 2012
2,011
1979 Hunter Cherubini 30 Clemmons
Thanks for all the nice comments........just don't look too close :). If I had to do it over again I would change my cutting sequence. I made the mistake of cutting all the hand holds on both sides of the board before ripping on my table saw. I did that thinking of having a wider base for my router. It made it difficult to get a smooth cut not having a continuous edge against the fence when ripping. Nothing my sander didn't fix though.
 
C

Capt jgw

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Feb 8, 2014
1,300
Columbia 36 Muskegon
I'm planning the same kind of project for my 1969 Columbia 36. It has a 3" wide soft vinyl rubrail that's in horrible shape and no longer available for replacement. I saw a blog where a guy restoring the same model boat used Trex decking to replace the rail. It looked pretty good but I didn't like the brown color when the rail is supposed to be white. I saw this white PVC board in a Lowes flyer and had a Eureka moment. It comes in a 12' x 9 1/2" x 1" board that will just rip into 3 3" x 12' pieces to make my 36' rubrail. Should work great. The Columbia also has a teak 3/4" "eyebrow" 1/2-round strip along the corner of the cabin sides / top and over 45 years this piece has been sanded down to about nothing in a few places. Seeing the other guy's use of Trex got me thinking I could rip 3/4 " off each side of a 16' piece to replace the eyebrow. It will never need refinishing and from 20 feet away you shouldn't be able to tell its not real wood. I'm going to make new handrails from the rest of the piece.
 
kito

kito

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Sep 13, 2012
2,011
1979 Hunter Cherubini 30 Clemmons
Seahorse24 said:
Wow, those look really good, Kito. Is PVC the same as composite?
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Not an authority on the subject but I believe composite is made from multiple recycled components bonded by resin. Pvc is the same stuff that the white pvc pipes are made from.
 
C

Capt jgw

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Feb 8, 2014
1,300
Columbia 36 Muskegon
kito said:
Not an authority on the subject but I believe composite is made from multiple recycled components bonded by resin. Pvc is the same stuff that the white pvc pipes are made from.
Click to expand
Right. The Trex is sawdust and milk jugs. It carries something like a 10 year warranty for home decks.
 
caguy

caguy

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Sep 22, 2006
4,004
Catalina, Luger C-27, Adventure 30 Marina del Rey
They look great Kito. You may have started something.
 
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