Stern Railing

[shanagolden]

The welds on my stern railing on both the port and starboard sides where the slightly angled ss tubing meets the base plate are separating/cracking. It's the junction just forward of the fuel fill on the port side and aft water fill on starboard side. A welding guy said he could re-weld them but that would mean taking off the entire stern rail. Major pain with the stern nav light wire inside etc. I thought I might try buying new bases that the ss pipe would fit into but can't seem to find stock fittings with the proper angle. Most fittings are 90', 60', 45', 30'. The railing angle seems to be about 80'.

Anyone have any thoughts or suggestions on this topic. Perplexed in Scituate MA. 

[Steve Sayian]

SG,

How would you get the 'replacement' bases onto the railing without initially removing the railing? 

I'd say remove the railing, run a 'messenger' line into the railing for the stern light and have it welded.  After the welds are done, resnake the wire and you're good-to-go.

There are lots of specialty welding shops on the South Shore that do stainless welding.

Steve

[Jim Hardesty]

I'll second Steve's recommendation.  Just want to add my 2cents, do it sooner than later.  If the railing and bases are still intact but the weld cracked  it's still located correctly.  Thats an easy job for the welder to repair and improve the weld.  But if it's loose and needs located the fix won't be as simple and may not look or fit as good.
Jim

[Phil Spicer]

 Re-welded mine 3 or 4 years ago. It's an easy job. On my '88 the 2 fittings on the stern are threaded into a plate that is glassed into the stern rail. Easy to remove. The other 2 fittings are thru bolted so you have to go lazarette diving, or have really long arms. Cut the wires long enough to put connections on each end. Connect a fish wire onto the stern light wires & pull wires up away from the weld heat. Now weld all around the base (360 degrees) not just at the crack. Buff & install. 

[Ken Juul]

As long as your are removing the pushpit for the repair you may want to modify your stern rail to make swim ladder access easier.  Here is one way: http://www.c34.org/wiki/index.php?title=Transom-Pushpit_Rail_Removal

The other option is to add vertical support tubes to each side of the gate, then remove the center cross rail and cap the newly exposed ends.  In either case it is much easier if the welder can tack the new pieces in place prior to removing the rails for the final welding/polishing.

[Michael Shaner]

The other option is to add vertical support tubes to each side of the gate, then remove the center cross rail and cap the newly exposed ends.  In either case it is much easier if the welder can tack the new pieces in place prior to removing the rails for the final welding/polishing

Ken speaks the truth. He witnessed this modification recently first hand...on my stern. My stbd stanchion base was cracked as well, so it was a prime opportunity to make the mod. A variation of what Phil said, connect the wire to a fish tape or coat hanger after you cut it (I had plenty of slack wire in the lazarette behind the engine panel) , push it a fair piece up the rail away from the welding. Pull it back down when you're done.

I'm tickled with the modification. The swim ladder now folds properly into the pushpit. MK1 owners know that horizontal rail is a PITA when accessing the swim ladder...I suppose I now have a MK 1.10