First, NEVER, NEVER, NEVER EVEN THINK ABOUT USING 5200 FOR SOMETHING YOU MAY NEED TO REMOVE LATER!
Now that that's done, your handrails were originally bedded with butyl tape. When you tighten down your lag screws (mine are held in place with long #10 or #12 stainless Phillips pan head wood screws, so I suspect that is what you may be using) you will squeeze out almost all of the butyl between the base of the handrail and the deck. If you leave any thickness of butyl, the handrails will rock back and forth as crew use, sit on, stand on them, and the seal will get broken. Countersinking the hole on the deck and the hole in the bottom of the handrail should leave a small plug of butyl trapped around the screw to stop any leaking if you get the joint tight. Now my handrails (on both boats) are not bedded with butyl. I keep a roll of butyl around for applications like chain plates where you need to allow for flexing and motion between the mating surfaces. But for deck hardware and handrails I've had the best luck using 4200 or 4000 bedding compound. Drill and countersink the deck and handrails as you would to use butyl. Before you dry fit the handrails, put an area of blue tape where the handrail bases will contact the deck. When you dry fit the handrails, use a sharp blade to score the tape around the handrail bases. Then remove the handrails and the tape that was under them. You will be left with a "ring" of blue tape masking the deck around each point of contact. Bed the handrails using 4000, 4200, Life Seal or Life Caulk as you prefer. Tighten the screws just until caulk squishes out around the handrail bases, but don't tighten the screws all the way. Let cure for 24 hours. Next day, use your sharp blade to trace around each of the handrail bases to cut the excess caulk down to the deck. Lift the blue tape and the excess caulk will go with it, leaving a nicely finished gasket between the handrails and deck. Now torque the screws down fully to compress the gasket. The handrails on my 25 were done that way sometime in the last 90s, and they are still tight and still don't leak. When I refinish the rails (lamentable not as often as I should) I need to mask the deck around the bases before applying the finish. My method does not really facilitate annual R&R of the handrails for refinishing as does the use of butyl, but I consider that a modest price to pay for a semi-permanent, strong, leak free installation. Rick Brass Imzadi -1976 C&C 38 mk1 la Belle Aurore -1975 C&C 25 mk1 Washington, NC -----Original Message----- From: CnC-List [mailto:cnc-list-boun...@cnc-list.com] On Behalf Of djhaug...@juno.com Sent: Friday, May 03, 2013 9:38 AM To: cnc-list@cnc-list.com Subject: Stus-List Installing teak handrails Hello again, As i'm getting closer to installing my new handrails, I have grown concern regarding the bedding compound. My old handrails were lag screwed from the bottom. I like this approach as it makes installing finished handrails a much less time consuming job. There would be no need for plugging, sanding and re-finishing the plugs after installation. I wanted to re-bed them using the method descibed on http://www.pbase.com/mainecruising/rebedding_hardware. However, the more I think about it, using the Butyl tape doesn't lend itself very well to using lag screws. It seems to me you don't want the bolt/screw turning, as it would grab the Butyl and pull it out of place. You know, that stuff likes to stick to itself and everything else. Wouldn't turning the lag bolt mess up the nice cone shaped blob you place for the countersink area? ... Am I overthinking this? ...should I go back to jolly 'ol 5200? ...should I reconsider through bolts and plugs and then have to deal with refinishing the plug areas. I wouldn't mind but, the need to re-coat 8 times at 1 time per 24hrs really makes it tedious. Especially, when it takes me 40 minutes to get to the boat. Thats not much fun after work every day. 1 1/2 driving for 20 minutes of coating, not to mention the gas...LOL As always, I appreciate any and all opinions and insights, Danny Lolita 1973 Viking 33 Westport Point, MA _______________________________________________ This List is provided by the C&C Photo Album http://www.cncphotoalbum.com CnC-List@cnc-list.com _______________________________________________ This List is provided by the C&C Photo Album http://www.cncphotoalbum.com CnC-List@cnc-list.com
