After 22 years of racing and cruising on Mondial, the handrail screws have begun to fail. Does anyone have a good method of doing this repair? A single screw is used to go from the external handrail, through the cabin roof and then secure the internal rail. Let me know if you have any good ideas.

I removed the handrails and flipped them so the old exterior ones were down below and vice versa. I then fastened them with stainless steel T bolts. Get the bolt longer than you need and cut them down to size. Worked out really well. Good luck!

Got rid of the wood rails 6+ years ago but prior to that I off set the rails and used a "sex" bolt to secure the inside rails. The sex bolt was made by my local machine shop by drilling and tapping a 3/8" dia x 1" long s.s. bolt. The inside tap was I think a 1/4-20.I used a fender washer and boat life and have never looked back, no leaks drips or problems. I also soaked the 1/4-20 screw bearing point on the rail with epoxy so the wood wouldn't continue to soften as my crew hung on them.

I did away with the teak handrails on deck completely last year. I had a stainless set made that I ordered ordered thru Bosun Supplies. I think they were about $95 each. They look fantastic on deck - a more modern, racy look. They thrubolt to the old teak rails below that were still in good condition. The new stainless rails came with a larger diameter bolt than the wimpy 3/16" bolts that were original. I highly recommed this upgrade.

However, I still have all the old bolts. They're yours if you want them. Just let me know.

The teak handrails on Ricochet (#89) gave out about 6 years ago. We considered "flipping" the inside rails to the outside, but the interior hand rails were made from maple, not teak so dropped this idea. We found a local shop that made us new teak rails using the old rails as a pattern. We had them made a little beefier than the originals and used new 3/16 thru bolts as the originals after drilling the cabin top holes oversized, filling with West System, and re-drilling to size. Two coats of Cetol Marine anually has kept them looking as new as the day they were installed.

A few questions regarding the SS handrails mentioned by Brad Stokes. Are they a standard fabrication (i.e. can I just order them?). Are they class legal? Do the holes align with the existing holes? Is there a phone number for the supplier?

Steve

Bosun Supplies number is (888) 433-3484. Talk to Chris, she helped me a bunch. Mention my name and she'll probably remember, because I had to send back two rails (they goofed on the bolt spacing). It was definately a custom fabrication. You need to measure your holes PRECISELY. Mine were 13 15/16" apart at centerline. The bolt length from the base of the handrail to the end of the threads was three inches, with 3/4" of thread. Because they used a larger diameter than 3/16 bolt, I had to enlarge the holes in the deck and in the belowdeck rails. Once I got the rails and made sure they were the right dimensions, they fit right into the old holes on the deck with only a minor amount of grunting and swearing.

The new rails are sturdy as the dickens and look fabulous, and no more varnishing! Good luck!

Are Stainless Steel handrails class legal? Also, what is the class ruling on spinnaker pole tracks down to the deck?

There was a discussion on this some time ago. As I recall, the handrails were legal because they didn't alter the performance characteristics or reduce weight. However, I'm not the one to ask for a definitive answer.

The definitive answer is that stainless steel handrails are class legal.

There has been no official ruling on spinnaker pole tracks that go down to the deck. I am aware of some boats that have been that way for a long time... perhaps since the mast was made. I would strongly discourage anybody from adding this. I watched one boat in the NAs last year get speared by a pole that was sticking out.

I would request that prior to this years NA's, the class should officially rule on the pole track issue. I give up time to my (very) competitive PHRF fleet setting up my pole at roundings, and would definitely add the track to the deck if it was declared class legal.

My track goes to the deck. It is clearly original equipment.

Being the boat that was 'speared' in NA's, the pole position had nothing to do with the collision.

Back to handrails. I have ordered SS handrails from Bosun and am trying to pre plan installation. I have ash wood rails inside the cabin-is there any way to remove the plugs that cover the bolts without damaging the wood? What is the best technique for removing the old handrails?

I have seen somewhere that you use a wood screw through the center of the wood plug. As the wood screw bottoms out it drives the plug backwards. You might want to drill a pilot hole first and use a screw that is the correct length so it hits the bolts in the rails.

My SS rails came a few weeks ago. My interior rails seem to be white oak not ash. The grain is too fine for ash. Anyway the wood screw method might work with some or all of your plugs. I'd try it first. If it doesn't get all of them a properly sized Forstner bit works well, but the plug has to be mostly intact for this or you'll chew up the hole. However, if the wood screw method gets any of the plug out, carefull work with a fine chisel will finish the job. If someone has epoxied them in get a bigger Forstner bit and start over

With my stainless rails, the bolts were a larger diameter, hence the nut was a larger diameter, hence again the hole in the wood handrail below decks had to be larger to accomodate the nut. So I didn't worry too much about making a mess getting the old plugs out. As it turned out, they came out pretty easy with a small chisel, and didn't gouge the wood much at all. I enlarged the holes carefully with a drill press and Forstner bit. I steadied the rail in a heavy clamp, then with an appropriately sized bit, I enlarged the original hole in the rail, then, without moving the clamp or the rail, I changed to the Forstner bit so it would be precicely aligned with the hole just enlarged in the rail. Its a bit tedious changing bits back and forth but its the best way to be perfectly aligned. Anyway, I did something right because everything fit when I was done. Good luck!