LittleSister
Well-Known Member
Our current boat has wooden handrails on the coachroof, bolted through the deck to matching wooden handrails on the inside of the cabin. As these interior handholds are very practical and aesthetically pleasing, and it provides very strong anchoring of all the rails, we’d like to do the same on our ‘new’ project boat, but I’d like some advice on the best arrangement of fasteners.
The arrangement on the current boat is that stainless bolts (6mm IIRC) go through holes in the inside handrail, through holes in the balsa cored deck, through holes in the underside of the outside handrail into a nut and washer sunk in a wider hole drilled into the top of the rail. This is then capped off by a teak plug in the hole.
The shortcoming of this arrangement is that if you remove the handrail inside, when you come to reassemble there’s a good chance that, no matter how careful you are, one or more of the bolts will dislodge the nut in the outside rail rather than screw into it, or screw into it and then just keep turning it without it gripping to clamp the two rails together against the deck. Then you’re into removing the external plug, which in turn means revarnishing, which in turn means sailing time lost, etc. Even then, as you can’t get a spanner onto the nut in the hole, it’s a challenge to somehow grip the nut sunk in the hole while the bolt underneath is being tightened.
So I am looking either for some different sort of fastener, or for some method of fixing the nut in place in the hole so it won’t turn, and can’t be pushed up, but ideally can move around slightly so one can get the thread started when there are slight differences in angle, etc., because of small variation in hole spacing, or perhaps a slight burr on the top of the bolt thread, etc.
Any suggestions?
The arrangement on the current boat is that stainless bolts (6mm IIRC) go through holes in the inside handrail, through holes in the balsa cored deck, through holes in the underside of the outside handrail into a nut and washer sunk in a wider hole drilled into the top of the rail. This is then capped off by a teak plug in the hole.
The shortcoming of this arrangement is that if you remove the handrail inside, when you come to reassemble there’s a good chance that, no matter how careful you are, one or more of the bolts will dislodge the nut in the outside rail rather than screw into it, or screw into it and then just keep turning it without it gripping to clamp the two rails together against the deck. Then you’re into removing the external plug, which in turn means revarnishing, which in turn means sailing time lost, etc. Even then, as you can’t get a spanner onto the nut in the hole, it’s a challenge to somehow grip the nut sunk in the hole while the bolt underneath is being tightened.
So I am looking either for some different sort of fastener, or for some method of fixing the nut in place in the hole so it won’t turn, and can’t be pushed up, but ideally can move around slightly so one can get the thread started when there are slight differences in angle, etc., because of small variation in hole spacing, or perhaps a slight burr on the top of the bolt thread, etc.
Any suggestions?
