Wire Rope Hand Rail - Material choice

T

Turbonic

Member
Joined
20 Jun 2019
Messages
26
Visit site
Hello - again another random question.

Despite my first intentions I now have a motorboat. - a birchwood 33.

This particular boat has large/long stainless handrails, with what to me, appear to be bloody big spaces between the stanchions, the deck and the horizontal rail.

My thinking is to add horizontal wire rope stringers front to back, on turnbuckles as per yachts/saling boats I have experienced.

Q's:
Silly idea?
What materials to use?
PVC coated wire?
Which thickness
If PVC coated, stainless or just galvanised.

Opinions and experiences appreciated, cheers.
Nic
 
Stainless with no PVC coating would be best; coated wire can corrode and not be noticed. I'd suggest you look at 6mm 1x19 wire.

Do you plan to drill holes in the stanchions to pass the wire through? If so, consider epoxying a small tube through the holes to minimise abrasion of the wire.

If you get fittings swaged on to the wire, you'll need bigger holes in the stanchions, so it might be better to use DIY terminals which you can assemble yourself once the wire is fed through the stanchions (Sta-Lok or similar).
 
I, personally, have not had any problems with plastic coated wire over 17 years of ownership. Plain 1x19 wire would seem to be OK for your intermediate spans, though. Stainless steel would be more in keeping and would not require any maintenance although you would have to replace it every 10-12 years to satisfy the insurance company.
 
neil_s said:
Stainless steel would be more in keeping and would not require any maintenance although you would have to replace it every 10-12 years to satisfy the insurance company.
Click to expand...

Who says the insurance company will be even vaguely interested in guard wires?
 
I would not drill holes in the stanchions without welding in strengthening tubes as it would weaken the stanchions .

You could us clips like these with seperate swaged stainless steel wire rope or even Spectra type rope

b57dnpMC6q0RHcMccrjS2kTBLYqohsYLgyLgJhPO8yvBYzENKqzR-0Wgpk6nurLsUyMRLhQm-ogYqOi7g2CDVezINASW2_4fuPgR2vR_zJWJmcVGvj5z0bhNCTYscD94yJg
 
Cheers,
All good ideas and suggestions, good stuff!


I had thought about a net but vanity lead me to the wire rope idea - With the potential that a net could even be added to the lower sections, in time.
Drilling holes I had studied however mechanically weakening worried me - chaflinng and nastly sharp edges etc.
Clips above are good - must find out where to buy some, and turnbuckles.
At a push I can get the TIG welder to the boat - and potentially weld on stainless rings/D shaped ring things. and fill in previously drilled holes (I think for fender baskets)
I've previously swaged wire rope with aluminium ferrules and a bolt cropper whos jaws I modified - this was for internal and garden stuff however - no idea if it would crumble to white powder in a marine environment. May find out!
 
I wouldn't use aluminium ferrules in a marine environment (I'm assuming salt water) they will weaken very quickly as the aluminium reacts with the SS steel. Copper ferrules are best.
 
Whatever you do, don’t buy plastic coated wire. I had one break with no notice, almost allowing my wife to fall in the oggin.

Never again. I immediately replaced all with 4mm stainless wire although did consider using Dyneema.
 
Turbonic said:
I've previously swaged wire rope with aluminium ferrules and a bolt cropper whos jaws I modified - this was for internal and garden stuff however - no idea if it would crumble to white powder in a marine environment. May find out!
Click to expand...

Ferrules are rather ugly compared with stainless terminals.
 
This is what I used. The swaged threaded section would pass through the welded in tubes in my stanchions

If you use clips you could use a fork end both ends of a single eye screw the other and a swage single eye fitting at the other end of the wire rope

Stainless-Steel-Jaw-and-Swage-Closed-Body-Turnbuckle-for-Cable-Fittings.jpg
 
Random thought - what happens to all the aged standing rigging that people replace on yachts etc? Is this a source of turnbuckles, and suitable handrails, or a recipe for disaster.
 
Turbonic said:
Hello - again another random question.

Despite my first intentions I now have a motorboat. - a birchwood 33.

This particular boat has large/long stainless handrails, with what to me, appear to be bloody big spaces between the stanchions, the deck and the horizontal rail.

My thinking is to add horizontal wire rope stringers front to back, on turnbuckles as per yachts/saling boats I have experienced.

Q's:
Silly idea?
What materials to use?
PVC coated wire?
Which thickness
If PVC coated, stainless or just galvanised.

Opinions and experiences appreciated, cheers.
Nic
Click to expand...

Unless you have dogs or small children running around the decks, why bother ?
 
We replaced all the coated 6mm stainless wire on/in the stanchions with dyneema. The stanchions already had the holes but we used the same turnbuckles and halyard knots at each end. You need to get the halyard knots 'right' as they stretch - maybe tighten is a better word - and they then go slack. So you need maximum adjustment still available in the turnbuckles when first installed.

From memory coated, stainless, wire is no longer allowed on racing yachts because some have failed at the swage (as mentioned). It might not happen to you - but dyneema is an easy alternative..
 
Stemar said:
Just how much would a pair of holes perpendicular to the main stresses weaken the stanchions? Especially as I'm guessing that the guardrails are welded together, so they're effectively a single piece, reinforcing each other.
Click to expand...

It caused a stress raiser mainly on the tension side of the hole and as the tube used to make stanchions would cause the tube to fail with the tube kinking.
 
I agree with Roger, drilling holes in the stanchions will weaken them, they need to have tubes welded in the holes to seal the stanchion, protect the wire and reinforce the stanchion.

If you do this, you can have the hole big enough to pass a threaded, swaged on stud through the stanchions.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top