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Need parts

Desiderata

Member II
Hi,

We're refurbishing a '78 E-27. We are looking to replace some broken rub rail, particularly, the track, after a nearby anchored boat drug anchor and damaged 1 side of our boat. but can't seem to find anything to match up. Also having trouble finding fresh handrails for the same boat. Hoo! they're a BEAR to get off. Broke 2 hardened bit of my impact driver(hand held) and have yet to get even 1 rail off. I'd cut them up and wrestle the screws out w/ visegrips if I knew I could replace the same rails w/ new ones. Any aftermarket ones seem to either be way too short/ and or/ have too short a span between loops to even piece them in in a different configuation. Any ideas?

Gratefully,

Mike McNulty
 

timday5

Member II
I'm fixing up a '76 E-27. I successfuly removed the hand rails this past weekend. I was able to unscrew the nuts retaining the handrail from below. I first removed the plugs that cover the screws, had my son hold a screw driver in the slot (used a vice grip on the driver handle to give him some leverage) and cranked on the nuts from below with a socket wrench. Then I had to use a rubber mallet to sort of jar the rails loose from the adhesive, then slowly pulled the rail off starting at one end (sort of like you do with baseboard, only more carefully because the rails are irreplaceable, apparently).

I'm going to refinish them in my garage, then put them back on.
 

Desiderata

Member II
Thanks!
Sounds like your 76 gave access to all bolts from inside. Mine was thru-bolted only on each end of the rails inside. I accessed those bolts and unbolted them pretty easily, however, the screws between thru-bolted ends are only accessable from topside and apparently screwed to threaded fixtures beneath the deck, perhaps nuts molded onto the deck. I'll keep after it and will eventually prevail. Your reply educated me to the scarcity of these rails-so I'll take care in removing them.

Many Thanks,

Mike
 

timday5

Member II
Once the nuts were gone, the rails were still attached pretty solidly due to the adhesive, etc. If your PO used a stronger adhesive than mine did, it may be just adhesive holding the rails on. If this were true, it seems to me the screws would turn freely without going anywhere, since they would have no threads to push against.

I wonder if you could tap upwards on the screw end with a pin punch and see if you could drive the screws out through the top that way? I didn't realize these type of punches existed until I had to do some work on my steering system. Harbor Freight had a fairly inexpensive set.

BTW, you're right, I had access to all the nuts from the interior - no overhead hand rails. Wish I had them, though...
 

tenders

Innocent Bystander
Rails with the correct length or spacing between the supports may or may not be replaceable off-the-shelf, but they are pretty easy to fabricate.

Imagine your port and starboard handrails off the boat, lying flat on the ground and facing each other so that the legs normally screwed to the boat are butted against their corresponding part on the other rail. It turns out that making this shape is straightforward. You make two rails at a time using a plank of wood twice the width that one handrail is high.

You start by using a large hole saw to drill the boundaries between the portions of the rails that will touch the deck.

Then you use a hand-held saw to cut out the area connecting the tops and bottom of one holesaw hole to its adjacent hole. The portion remaining will be the part of the handrails that your hand wraps around.

Then you cut the thing down the middle and end up with two similar handrails.

See Don Casey's "This Old Boat" for details.

The handrails on my 32 were screwed into anchors that were set into the fiberglass. Over the years they had corroded together. (No through-bolts on mine, although some seem to have them.) Eventually, as I discovered, as you're trying to remove the rails, either the anchor pulls out of the deck, the bolt breaks, the handrail breaks, or you cut the bolt off.

As for rubrail: WEFCO should sell replacement rubber inserts. The aluminum channel, though, I'm less sure about--maybe WEFCO has some ideas.
http://www.wefcorubber.com/
 
Last edited:

Randy Rutledge

Sustaining Member
Cut their heads off.

Have you thought of drilling the head off the bolts and prying the handrail up off the shaft of the bolt? This would allow you to remove the bolt with pliers and save the handrails.
You will need to tape around the base of the rail and use a very thin putty knife or some similar item to work between the rail and deck to free the 5200 or whatever the PO used. My 29 had a buildup of dirt from the years and nothing more.

GOOD LUCK!
 
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