Teak Handrail Replacement (1990 Hull #1052)

[Steve Ormond]

Has anyone had to replace a long teak handrail on either the port of starboard cabintop?  I'm thinking about it as the original one is a bit worn.  The curve and the slope of the cabintop would seem to require a custom made rail.  Any suggestions on where to look for one?
Thanks in advance.

[RV61]

Steve,
I looked around for these last year and could not find premade in the states unless I went with two or three shorter ones. The advantage if you break one you do not need to replace the whole thing. Catalina can make them for you however they wanted me to send them the old ones. I ended up sanding and cleaning the old ones and used a product named tough shield 4 coats of a base and two coats of top cote and they look like 12 coats of varnish put on. I will find out how well it holds up over the next few years. Maintenance is a couple top coats a year.

Rick

[mvazmina]

A side note to this thread, I purchased Sunbrella covers for the handrails from a firm in Texas. Here in the Florida sun I have not had to redo the rails in over 2 years. They are custom made and were about $80 3 years ago. Well worth the price for when the boat is in the slip idle.

[Jim Price]

Search the board for more info.  I recall a mention of a company (in FL I think) that can replicate the teak grab rails out of some plastic / polimer material and the end result is something that looks exactly like stained teak and will retain the look "forever".  They make a lot of stuff for stern plaforms, etc.  I think that you just send them your old items and they reproduce with the new material.

[skip]

Mike-

Good to hear that someone else thought about covers for the teak handrails while idle in the slip.  My wife thought I was losing it when I sewed them out of extra sunbrella from my recent re-do of all my canvas.   I'll make sure to quote the $80 figure to her.

[Stu Jackson]

OH NO, NOT AGAIN?!?!

Sorry guys, but I really hesitated before I brought this up.

Sunbrella is great, and looks good.  As a singlehander quite a lot, I try to keep the "work" part down to a minimum and have used cetol for the past 6 years on our C34 and for 9 of the 11 years we had our C25.  Somewhere I wrote a long description of how we went from bubling varnish, to revarnishing (yuck, lotsa work and we weren't too good at it!), to teak oil to cetol - and never looked back.

Naturally, the link to the cetol and finishing discussion is:

http://c34.infopop.cc/6/ubb.x?a=srch&s=329609511&findw=cetol

That description of my experiences, and others can be found through that link, which includes this one:

http://c34.infopop.cc/6/ubb.x?a=tpc&s=329609511&f=829605811&m=354600911&r=454600911#454600911

Hope this helps you in your decision making process, and enjoy whatever it is that you decide to do.  

So many choices, so little time... :)

Enjoy,

Stu

[This message was edited by Stu Jackson #224 1986 "Aquavite" on February 10, 2004 at 06:37 PM.]

[Jim Price]

As an additional response, I did not mention in previouse reply that I also have covers on all grab rails, including the extra rails I added to top of companionway entry on each side.  Also used Cetol for touch up (single coat of Gloss) 2 years ago and have not touched since.  My admiral hates all the "snap on snap off" we do each time out, but she understands I don't have time to refinish teak all the time and still make a living.

[SteveLyle]

Steve -

A lot of discussion here, but as to your original question....

Yes, there is curvature in the cabin top, but no, the factory rails aren't cut any differently to accocunt for it - they take a straight board, cut the hand loops in it, round it off, then bolt it to the deck and it bends to fit.  If you take your rails off, you'll see that they somewhat spring back to the origanal shape, flat shape.

If you absolutely must have new rails, get quotes from a local woodworking shop, and from Catalina.  I'm betting that you'll find that you're better off with Catalina, even with sending your rails to them.

Good luck,
Steve

[bruce Hoch, vanishing Poi]

Hi all
I called Catalina today to ask about replacing the long handrail (I used one as a base for a preventer -- bad idea).  A section was broken and subsequently removed, so I am going to send both halves back to California so that they will drill the holes in the new piece to match the old.  I will also photograph and measure the good starboard rail as a sample for them, but Parts Dept. says they have the mesaurements on file (VP is a an '88). Cost is $105.  Although there will probably be some extras once they get the original from me, this is still a pretty good price. Turn around time is estimated at 2 weeks.
Hope this helps. I'll let the Message Board know how it goes.
Bruce

[Steve Ormond]

Thanks to all for great comments and suggestions.  Truth be told, I busted the port side rail while removing it (for future reference, gently tap the bolts from below in sequence, do not try to pull the rail from above until the rail is mostly up and out from the tapping).
Great site and thanks to everyone who works on it!