Has anybody replaced their exterior grab rails with homemade stainless steel rails? Mine are kind of thinned out from years of sanding. I cannot get teak (or any wood) here in Alaska (except red oak) at a reasonable price to make new ones but I can get 1 inch s/s tubing and fittings sent via mail. Any comments to functionality and looks?
Grab rails
- Thread starter alaskaflyfish
- Start date
Tim email me off the net at bestvega@.... Easy to do and I'll send pictures of the ones I did for Lyric. Sorry but I can't post to the group. When you think about it do you want to grab a piece of wood or a piece
of steel when you're about to be swept overboard? Walt
P.S. 7/8" is more than adequate and will save you some bucks.From: AlbinVega@yahoogroups.com AlbinVega@yahoogroups.com on behalf of alaskaflyfish@... [AlbinVega] AlbinVega@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Wednesday, January 10, 2018 1:08 PM
To: AlbinVega@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [AlbinVega] Grab rails
Has anybody replaced their exterior grab rails with homemade stainless steel rails? Mine are kind of thinned out from years of sanding. I cannot get teak (or any wood) here in Alaska (except red oak) at a reasonable price to make new ones but I can get 1
inch s/s tubing and fittings sent via mail. Any comments to functionality and looks?
of steel when you're about to be swept overboard? Walt
P.S. 7/8" is more than adequate and will save you some bucks.From: AlbinVega@yahoogroups.com AlbinVega@yahoogroups.com on behalf of alaskaflyfish@... [AlbinVega] AlbinVega@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Wednesday, January 10, 2018 1:08 PM
To: AlbinVega@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [AlbinVega] Grab rails
Has anybody replaced their exterior grab rails with homemade stainless steel rails? Mine are kind of thinned out from years of sanding. I cannot get teak (or any wood) here in Alaska (except red oak) at a reasonable price to make new ones but I can get 1
inch s/s tubing and fittings sent via mail. Any comments to functionality and looks?
My outside ones were 1/8" smaller than the inside. I refinished the weathered exterior and switched them with the interior. And used SS through carriage bolts and nylock nuts while I was at it. My career was commercial vessel construction where an exposed quality fastener was just fine.
I will be facing this problem in a few years, so your post gave me a moment to consider options. I see rails in catalogs, from West to Defender and Jamestown. While I would love s/s if clipping on a harness, I wonder about cold conductivity (can be rubberized, I’m sure). On the other hand, steel provides some options in a pinch and someone who works on motorcycles or a sculptor, for example, could probably do something nice with a profile for added aesthetics. Finally, is it possible to find someone stateside who would take your tracing and send duplicates up to you in the fantastically expensive wood of your choice? Just a thought… Best, Paul Brown #351.
Sent from Mail for Windows 10
From: walt judy brown allore bestvega@... [AlbinVega]
Sent: Wednesday, January 10, 2018 3:16 PM
To: AlbinVega@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [AlbinVega] Grab rails
Tim email me off the net at bestvega@.... Easy to do and I\'ll send pictures of the ones I did for Lyric. Sorry but I can\'t post to the group. When you think about it do you want to grab a piece of wood or a piece of steel when you\'re about to be swept overboard? Walt
P.S. 7/8" is more than adequate and will save you some bucks.
From: AlbinVega@yahoogroups.com <AlbinVega@yahoogroups.com> on behalf of alaskaflyfish@... [AlbinVega] <AlbinVega@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Wednesday, January 10, 2018 1:08 PM
To: AlbinVega@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [AlbinVega] Grab rails
Has anybody replaced their exterior grab rails with homemade stainless steel rails? Mine are kind of thinned out from years of sanding. I cannot get teak (or any wood) here in Alaska (except red oak) at a reasonable price to make new ones but I can get 1 inch s/s tubing and fittings sent via mail. Any comments to functionality and looks?
Sent from Mail for Windows 10
From: walt judy brown allore bestvega@... [AlbinVega]
Sent: Wednesday, January 10, 2018 3:16 PM
To: AlbinVega@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [AlbinVega] Grab rails
Tim email me off the net at bestvega@.... Easy to do and I\'ll send pictures of the ones I did for Lyric. Sorry but I can\'t post to the group. When you think about it do you want to grab a piece of wood or a piece of steel when you\'re about to be swept overboard? Walt
P.S. 7/8" is more than adequate and will save you some bucks.
From: AlbinVega@yahoogroups.com <AlbinVega@yahoogroups.com> on behalf of alaskaflyfish@... [AlbinVega] <AlbinVega@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Wednesday, January 10, 2018 1:08 PM
To: AlbinVega@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [AlbinVega] Grab rails
Has anybody replaced their exterior grab rails with homemade stainless steel rails? Mine are kind of thinned out from years of sanding. I cannot get teak (or any wood) here in Alaska (except red oak) at a reasonable price to make new ones but I can get 1 inch s/s tubing and fittings sent via mail. Any comments to functionality and looks?
I had thought about switching outside to inside. The screw orientation led me to look for other alternatives, but screw direction is not a big deal. I just think stainless steel grab rails would look nice.
I checked the local retailers, they have grab rails in teak and plastic but the hoop spacing is wrong. The price for fabrication of teak is greater than stainless steel tubing and standoffs.
Thanks for that info. Good luck!
Sent from Mail for Windows 10
From: Tim Malone alaskaflyfish@... [AlbinVega]
Sent: Wednesday, January 10, 2018 9:12 PM
To: Paul Brown PBrowKBlak@... [AlbinVega]
Subject: Re: RE: [AlbinVega] Grab rails
I checked the local retailers, they have grab rails in teak and plastic but the hoop spacing is wrong. The price for fabrication of teak is greater than stainless steel tubing and standoffs.
Sent from Mail for Windows 10
From: Tim Malone alaskaflyfish@... [AlbinVega]
Sent: Wednesday, January 10, 2018 9:12 PM
To: Paul Brown PBrowKBlak@... [AlbinVega]
Subject: Re: RE: [AlbinVega] Grab rails
I checked the local retailers, they have grab rails in teak and plastic but the hoop spacing is wrong. The price for fabrication of teak is greater than stainless steel tubing and standoffs.
Tim, I trust the pictures got through. Feel free to re-post to the group. The fittings are by Taco and the end rail ends are no longer in their line. Suncor, Sea Dog, Whitecap and West Marine store brand rail ends are
available on line. Are you familiar with Fisheries Supply in Seattle? They carry all but the West Marine ones. Obviously prices have gone up since we built these back in the late 1990s. On the other hand since the worth of the dollar has gone down they are
probably about the same. The most difficult part was drilling through the cabin top. Inside the cabin the machine screws are secured with fender washers and lock-nuts. the problem with through bolting on the cabin top is compression. I drilled oversize and
filled with them with epoxy and colloidal silica then re-drilled through that.
Position the rails where you want them. Drill through the cabin top and assemble the rail where you want it to be. Remove the rail and re-drill half the the holes at a time, i.e. inboard holes on the uprights and outer
holes on the rail ends. That way you can use the unfilled holes to get the position right when you bolt through the filled core. I believe I used a 3/4" hole saw to drill the oversize holes. Drilling will be easy after you get through the outer layer of glass.
Don't go through the inner layer of glass when you start to get more resistance you'll know you've hit it.
Caution on this as epoxy heats up as it kicks. Put a piece of tape on the underside of the hole and and drop a few drops of epoxy on this from topside and let it harden. If you omit this step and put to much epoxy in
it will heat up as it kicks, the tape will fall off from the heat and the epoxy will drain through onto whatever happens to be underneath. Hopefully not a settee cushion! When filling the holes don't be tempted to put to much epoxy in. Maybe a 1/4 of and
inch at a time and let it kick. Putting to much in at one time will cause the epoxy to foam as it cures. It sounds more complicated than it is. Just somewhat tedious. Probably not a a project for a cold Alaskan winter.The interior hand rails were kept in the same position but re-secured with machine screws into T-nuts. the holes were drilled oversize, T nuts inserted flat side down with a bit of epoxy to allow them to get a grip and
allowed to set. It will go easier if use longer machine screws than you need as you are setting this up. Coat them with soap so the epoxy won't stick to the threads. After the epoxy has kicked remove the longer screws and fasten the rail in place with shorter
screws. These too should have soap on the threads and should go maybe an inch bast the end of the T nut. Fill the holes as previously discussed and sand flush when done.I got to be really good with epoxy over the years. Lyric had a lot of work done with it! WaltP.S. I'm well underway into buying a 22 foot Marlin cuddy cabin fishing boat. Although I'm going to a powerboat at the wife's urging I'll always consider myself a sailor and more importantly, a Vega sailor!
From: AlbinVega@yahoogroups.com AlbinVega@yahoogroups.com on behalf of alaskaflyfish@... [AlbinVega] AlbinVega@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Wednesday, January 10, 2018 1:08 PM
To: AlbinVega@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [AlbinVega] Grab rails
Has anybody replaced their exterior grab rails with homemade stainless steel rails? Mine are kind of thinned out from years of sanding. I cannot get teak (or any wood) here in Alaska (except red oak) at a reasonable price to make new ones but I can get 1
inch s/s tubing and fittings sent via mail. Any comments to functionality and looks?
available on line. Are you familiar with Fisheries Supply in Seattle? They carry all but the West Marine ones. Obviously prices have gone up since we built these back in the late 1990s. On the other hand since the worth of the dollar has gone down they are
probably about the same. The most difficult part was drilling through the cabin top. Inside the cabin the machine screws are secured with fender washers and lock-nuts. the problem with through bolting on the cabin top is compression. I drilled oversize and
filled with them with epoxy and colloidal silica then re-drilled through that.
Position the rails where you want them. Drill through the cabin top and assemble the rail where you want it to be. Remove the rail and re-drill half the the holes at a time, i.e. inboard holes on the uprights and outer
holes on the rail ends. That way you can use the unfilled holes to get the position right when you bolt through the filled core. I believe I used a 3/4" hole saw to drill the oversize holes. Drilling will be easy after you get through the outer layer of glass.
Don't go through the inner layer of glass when you start to get more resistance you'll know you've hit it.
Caution on this as epoxy heats up as it kicks. Put a piece of tape on the underside of the hole and and drop a few drops of epoxy on this from topside and let it harden. If you omit this step and put to much epoxy in
it will heat up as it kicks, the tape will fall off from the heat and the epoxy will drain through onto whatever happens to be underneath. Hopefully not a settee cushion! When filling the holes don't be tempted to put to much epoxy in. Maybe a 1/4 of and
inch at a time and let it kick. Putting to much in at one time will cause the epoxy to foam as it cures. It sounds more complicated than it is. Just somewhat tedious. Probably not a a project for a cold Alaskan winter.The interior hand rails were kept in the same position but re-secured with machine screws into T-nuts. the holes were drilled oversize, T nuts inserted flat side down with a bit of epoxy to allow them to get a grip and
allowed to set. It will go easier if use longer machine screws than you need as you are setting this up. Coat them with soap so the epoxy won't stick to the threads. After the epoxy has kicked remove the longer screws and fasten the rail in place with shorter
screws. These too should have soap on the threads and should go maybe an inch bast the end of the T nut. Fill the holes as previously discussed and sand flush when done.I got to be really good with epoxy over the years. Lyric had a lot of work done with it! WaltP.S. I'm well underway into buying a 22 foot Marlin cuddy cabin fishing boat. Although I'm going to a powerboat at the wife's urging I'll always consider myself a sailor and more importantly, a Vega sailor!
From: AlbinVega@yahoogroups.com AlbinVega@yahoogroups.com on behalf of alaskaflyfish@... [AlbinVega] AlbinVega@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Wednesday, January 10, 2018 1:08 PM
To: AlbinVega@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [AlbinVega] Grab rails
Has anybody replaced their exterior grab rails with homemade stainless steel rails? Mine are kind of thinned out from years of sanding. I cannot get teak (or any wood) here in Alaska (except red oak) at a reasonable price to make new ones but I can get 1
inch s/s tubing and fittings sent via mail. Any comments to functionality and looks?
Wouldn't stainless rails get really hot in the sun, especially southern/tropical sun? Everything ELSE sure does ...
Actually no. I was very concerned about that but apparently the stainless polish is reflective enough to keep that from happening. Maybe if they were painted but we never had a problem with them even being uncomfortably
warm. We left Mexico when the temp was in the high 90s but come to think f it we were on the Sacramento River Delta in the summer when it was hitting over a hundred and thye were not uncomfortable. I did have concerns about that but it turned out to be needless.
WaltFrom: AlbinVega@yahoogroups.com AlbinVega@yahoogroups.com on behalf of gene_neill@... [AlbinVega] AlbinVega@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Thursday, January 11, 2018 2:15 PM
To: AlbinVega@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [AlbinVega] Re: Grab rails
Wouldn't stainless rails get really hot in the sun, especially southern/tropical sun? Everything ELSE sure does ...
warm. We left Mexico when the temp was in the high 90s but come to think f it we were on the Sacramento River Delta in the summer when it was hitting over a hundred and thye were not uncomfortable. I did have concerns about that but it turned out to be needless.
WaltFrom: AlbinVega@yahoogroups.com AlbinVega@yahoogroups.com on behalf of gene_neill@... [AlbinVega] AlbinVega@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Thursday, January 11, 2018 2:15 PM
To: AlbinVega@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [AlbinVega] Re: Grab rails
Wouldn't stainless rails get really hot in the sun, especially southern/tropical sun? Everything ELSE sure does ...
Thanks Walt, that's good to know. At this time I have no intention of switching from wood to stainless, but you never know!
Gene, just another comment along the same lines. Paint with pigment absorbs heat whereas white paint reflects it. Judy was told that by one of the paint salesman when he was working at West Marine. If cruising in the
tropics paint it white.
Judy used to have a Hallberg-Rassy. It had a 6 inch or so dark blue cove stripe. On a sunny day the interior of the hull behind the stripe would get so hot it was hard to touch. WaltFrom: AlbinVega@yahoogroups.com AlbinVega@yahoogroups.com on behalf of gene_neill@... [AlbinVega] AlbinVega@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Thursday, January 11, 2018 2:15 PM
To: AlbinVega@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [AlbinVega] Re: Grab rails
Wouldn't stainless rails get really hot in the sun, especially southern/tropical sun? Everything ELSE sure does ...
tropics paint it white.
Judy used to have a Hallberg-Rassy. It had a 6 inch or so dark blue cove stripe. On a sunny day the interior of the hull behind the stripe would get so hot it was hard to touch. WaltFrom: AlbinVega@yahoogroups.com AlbinVega@yahoogroups.com on behalf of gene_neill@... [AlbinVega] AlbinVega@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Thursday, January 11, 2018 2:15 PM
To: AlbinVega@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [AlbinVega] Re: Grab rails
Wouldn't stainless rails get really hot in the sun, especially southern/tropical sun? Everything ELSE sure does ...