more of a job than I expected
The original lifeline stancions had the bolts to the base to close to the toe rail so that if you pulled on them they would about lever themselves right out of the fiberglass. Making them taller would never have worked as they were. So, I made some new bases, which were cut from 3/16" by 4" stainless plate. I cut 4 pieces for each base (which was the excuse I had to buy a motorized bandsaw!), the tack welded then to fit the edge of the fiberglass. Then I welded them up with my wire welder. Next was a lot of grinding and polishing. Next stop was to a friends who has a good TIG machine, I welded the poles, braces and tops on. More polishing, and they pretty much resembled stancions. The new stancions bolt to the lower part of the deck, not the edge next to the toerail. The thing I still must do is make braces at the gate. If it is open and someone falls on the lifeline, I imagine they would give pretty easily. We already went offshore with them. I got them done just in time for the trip to Veracruz Mexico in June. I'm just slow getting the pictures together! FYI, cost of material was probably about $300 for the stancions, the lifelines were about $1200 installed. They were a bit more than they might have been because I put a good quality pelican hook at the end of every line. I've found that we often want to drop the lines to drag something aboard. (dink, supplies, or whatever) Guess I can't post links, because the website I have always has a "~" in it. Bummer.
