Catalina 34

General Activities => Main Message Board => Topic started by: mregan on November 05, 2013, 05:33:50 PM

Title: Removing handrails
Post by: mregan on November 05, 2013, 05:33:50 PM
I pulled the handrails last weekend to re-finish.  I was able to unbolt all the bolts from the inside except on three of them.  The bolts were spinning so I had to remove the bung and use a screwdriver.  When re-installing, should I put a small amount of epoxy on the bolts to keep them from spinning when tightening?  I was planning on installing new bungs on the ones I had to remove, apply the cetol.  Then when re-installing, I could tighten the nuts from below without having to get at the top of the bolts and install the bungs later.
Title: Re: Removing handrails
Post by: lazybone on November 06, 2013, 12:25:17 AM
Go ahead and fill with epoxy but also  cut a screwdriver slot in the male end of the bolt.
With a dremil or hacksaw.

Edit:  I remove 95% of my teak every winter and do it at my leisure at home.
         It takes about an hour to remove and reinstall.
Title: Re: Removing handrails
Post by: Jim Hardesty on November 06, 2013, 03:53:27 AM
One other "trick" is to double nut.  Need enough length to put on 2 more nuts with some space between the tight nut and the 2 nuts.  A good hardware store will have thin nuts.  Put one nut on leaving 2 threads showing at the bolt end, hand tighten the second nut, hold the second nut and tighten the first nut aginst the second nut.  Now a wrench can be used on the second (bottom) nut to hold the bolt when loosening the original nut.  It's a lot simpler to do than the story.   On my previous boat I used longer screws to hold the hand rails (so I could double nut) then used the extra threads for stainless steel loops to hang stuff.
Jim
Title: Re: Removing handrails
Post by: Ron Hill on November 06, 2013, 05:23:28 PM
mre : Cut a slot in the end of the bolt - is the way to go. 
The screwdriver in the slot will hold the bolt steady as you tighten the nut.  Then use an acorn nut so it looks good. 

A few thoughts
Title: Re: Removing handrails
Post by: Stu Jackson on November 06, 2013, 06:52:10 PM
Paragraph 1 here: 

http://c34.org/bbs/index.php/topic,7457.msg50941.html#msg50941 (http://c34.org/bbs/index.php/topic,7457.msg50941.html#msg50941)