Stainless Grabrails

Tortuga's Lie · **Joined:** 27 Oct 2006 10:32 **Posts:** 827

I am curious if you have replaced your teak coach-top grab rails with stainless..... Since my teak is getting rather thin, I am thinking of having some made and was wondering what it would look like and the proper spacing of the vertical posts. Did you keep the spacing the same, or did you skip everyother one?

alpinista · **Posted:** 02 May 2013 12:49

I just replaced mine, and kept the original spacing of the uprights. This makes the rails way more stout than others I've seen, which typically have a single upright in the center of the span. They also look great with the new Hood stainless hatches.

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Tortuga's Lie · **Joined:** 27 Oct 2006 10:32 **Posts:** 827

Thanks Jay, That's exactly what I was looking for! I am assuming that you contracted the fabrication locally where you live? How much should I budget??? Shocked

alpinista · **Posted:** 03 May 2013 12:38

$400.00 each for $1600 total. Seemed expensive, but the guy is the best in town with stainless, and the end product was fantastic. You can notice in the pictures that each upright has a round foot, which is a nice touch that makes the rail much more stable of the coach top, and makes it easier to hide the old holes. You will find it impossible to have the new rails fabricated so that the new studs line up with the old holes. My original teak rails had the bolts drilled through at various angles, making it impossible to reuse most of them. So I drilled them out and filled them with thickened epoxy, then drilled all new holes.

Also, you'll find that there is no easy way to gain access to the forward bolts, as the headliner ahead of the mast can't be removed without some major disassembly. The head and hanging lockers were built after the headliner was installed. I calculated the positions of the bolts, then drilled 1.5" holes through the headliner with a hole saw. I plugged the holes with metal hole plugs from the hardware store, painted white.

Tortuga's Lie · **Joined:** 27 Oct 2006 10:32 **Posts:** 827

Well,
I went ahead and bit the bullet....ordered a set of handrails that should be ready to install in a few weeks......don't know the final price yet but the estimate was real reasonable...hope they stay close to it!

alpinista · **Posted:** 10 May 2013 16:45

Cool... lets see the pictures after the install!!

Timshel · **Joined:** 29 Dec 2010 10:24 **Posts:** 191

Finally installed mine yesterday,the front and rear holes are as the originals, the rest are random ! One less thing to maintain.

Tortuga's Lie · **Joined:** 27 Oct 2006 10:32 **Posts:** 827

OK, Here's the new rails!!! I am very pleased and glad that I went ahead with this project....the old teak rails had been sanded to the point where they were very thin and virtually fell apart when I removed them, so if I had needed them in an emergency "grab" they could've cost me dearly!!! The new ones are rock solid and I feel that I can lash the dinghy securely when needed.

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File comment: Holes filled, faired and painted

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File comment: Marking location of new holes

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File comment: End result!

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conch · **Joined:** 21 Jan 2010 12:57 **Posts:** 168

I sure like the pulpit forward of the spar. My intention is to add several such "sissy" bars: starting from aft, a boom gallows, port and starboard mast pulpits and something similar to what's shown in your photos with a bar extending forward toward the bows. Who fabricated what you've had done?

Tortuga's Lie · **Joined:** 27 Oct 2006 10:32 **Posts:** 827

conch wrote:

Who fabricated what you've had done?

Both the grab rails and the dorade guards were fabricated locally by a firm called, "Marine Fabricators" in Topping Virginia. They used all 316 stainless and all the welds are smooth and polished nicely. Very happy customer. I want to fabricate more dorade guards for the aft dorades but I'll wait a bit.....I want to enjoy the boat for the rest of the summer

The mast leaning posts that you're talking about may crowd that area a bit, I would be curious to see a picture before committing. Our Tartan's coach roof narrows down quite a bit in that area forward. They certainly would be a nice safety factor though.

Tartan37.com

Stainless Grabrails

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