hand rail attachment points

[ssardone]

On my '01 the handrails on the cabin top are each atttached with three screws. When I took them off for the first time to rebed them I discovered that the middle screw is machine thread going into a plate in the deck. The outer screws were wood screw type threads and didn't appear to go in to a metal deck plate. But after further investigation I discovered that the machine thread screw would thread very nicely into the holes that the wood screws come out of. I know this is somewhat convoluted but my question is-are the original factory screws all supposed to be machine thread and the wood screw type was put in there by a PO? Are there metal plates in the deck for all three screws? I have found a number of things on the boat that would lead me to believe a PO had changed the screws out. Any help appreciated.

Steve

 

[JoeWhite]

It appears that all the screws must be machine screws. You can test if there is a metal plate for all the 3 screws by installing 3 machine screws - without the hand rail - then perform a continuity test between the screws. If there is a metal plate - then current will flow between all of them. Also try to pull them out by hand only. You can also try this continuity test on the other posts if you find that there are also wood screws in there.