Hunter 34 handrails

[peacheykeen]

I'm renovating a Hunter 34 (1983) and the deck handrails are badly worn - too much power washing is my quess. They look screwed to the deck, as opposed to through-bolted. without having to take down the interior head lining can someone confirm for me that they are indeed
screwed to the deck, therefore simplifying the replacement procedure.

 

[Don Crowther]

peacheykeen
I had my liner off last year and yes my hand rails were screwed from inside. The liner isn't very hard to take down with 2 people. I did it by myself by just propping it up to hold it in place while I removed the screws. Sorry I don't have any pictures.

 

[kloudie1]

I think it may be different on different year models. My handrails are not thru-bolted.. I suspect they may be threaded into an embedded plate in the cabin-top. The liner is indeed easy to pull (as Don says) but the starboard side is ungainly because it is longer than 8 feet. Note that because of that, ya can't make new ones out of standard 4' X 8' panels without a seam.

 

[wufibugs]

On the H31 it looks to me like they were through bolted to the handholds in the salon. Not sure though.

 

[Scott]

On my 86 h31 they are not thru bolted. had them off several times for sanding and cetol(ing) several times to do in my nice warm workshop.

 

[Bronxite]

I'm renovating a Hunter 34 (1983) and the deck handrails are badly worn - too much power washing is my quess. They look screwed to the deck, as opposed to through-bolted. without having to take down the interior head lining can someone confirm for me that they are indeed
screwed to the deck, therefore simplifying the replacement procedure.

Once you ID the fastener removal...the most important thing is to properly seal the new handrail and fasteners.. Go to https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=pbase+compass+marine he gives step by step instruction how to do it properly so you don't get water infiltrating your cored deck and causing lot more damage.

Tis is a great site for may other professional repairs as well. Good luck

 

[wufibugs]

So, Scott, what are they screwed into? I just assumed that since the rail on the cabintop was in the same place as the salon handhold, they were tied together.

 

[HMT2]

So, Scott, what are they screwed into? I just assumed that since the rail on the cabintop was in the same place as the salon handhold, they were tied together.

Yeah I would like to know too. How are the handrails on the '83-'87 H31 attached? I would like to remove mine and refinish them.

 

[Ilanortho]

I recently wanted to replace the handrails on my 1986 H34 as they looked to worn and rotten to be refurbished. The boat yard however recommended that they could be salvaged and I went ahead and it turns out that they were surprisingly resilient him what I thought was rotten could be refurbished by stripping the old finish off and then using boric acid to bleach them and they are now ready to be refinished and look quite good.

To answer your question I had to remove the headliners on both sides of the boat. On my boat the handrails were through bolted with washers and nuts on the inside of the cabin. Removing the headliners was quite easy but it turns out that the wires to the overhead dome lights were quite short and I had to cut them to get the headliners off. There was not enough access to disconnect them from the lights. it probably could be done but I was going to replace the dome lights anyway.

 

[wufibugs]

Scott, did you get the rails off by unscrewing them from the top or did you have to remove the headliner?

 

[peacheykeen]

thanks for all the feedback. I took a peek inside the ceiling liner, and yep, they are through bolted to nuts/washers despite
being plugged in the handrail too. I think I'm going to lag the new ones down since they're Iroko which is a dense wood, bringing the lags up from the inside and sealed with 4200. The old rails are too thin and course from too too much power-washing(blasting?) so there's no rescue for them.

AS for the ceiling panel, mine are in good shape, and yep, that starboard one is just too long! I though I might replace them with a lighter sheet of poly, or a textured fibreglass panel. Any suggestions there?

UPDATE I thru-bolted the new IROKO handrails, and cut the starboard ceiling panel at the " galley-turn" then put in a teak batten to cover the seam. The batten is positioned where two of the original screws are positioned, at the angled turn-out where the panel widens and goes aft over the galley. The batten lines up with the forward face of the galley counter. Future replacement will be easier, being able to cut both port and starboard panels from a 4x8, and a 4x4 of whatever I choose to use.