On Fri, 27 Jan 2006 12:05:17 -0500, DSK wrote:

Scotty wrote:
Do you rebed handrails every year?


Who, me?

No.

The handrails on the tugboat go thru a flange around the
cabin top, so the bottom of the bolt doesn't come into the
cabin. So it's less critical.

OTOH the last time I rebedded the hand rails was 2 1/2 years
ago and so they are getting about due this season. The time
before that? Dunno, going by the former owners maintenance
log (and what I've seen of their handiwork).... never. Maybe
that means it won't really be "due" for about 18 years?

How often does everybody else do them?

DSK


Never. And never had a leak associated with them. In 18 years. They
were through bolted and back plate reinforced.

All my core leaks and rot came from:

Bedding of a fiberglass cowl that covered the sliding hatch when in
the open position (hatch slid under it). It was bedded with Boatlife,
with screws into but not through the core.

The teak rails that provide the side slide stays for the sliding
hatch. Screwed into the core but not through.

The escutcheon plates that cover the area around the mainmast standing
rigging chainplate penetrations. Same caulk, also screwed into the
cored, but not through.

Outside flange plate/trim ring around powered head ventilator. Screws
into the core but not through.

Crappy ports that looked good but were a terrible design. Glass
wrapped around to cover the thickness of the opening and polycarbonate
overlapping the opening, mounted and screwed from the inside, into
the core but not through. Differential expansion (portion exposed to
sun vs. portion that was shaded by the cabin trunk bulkhead) created
massive racking and no caulk would hold.

beginning to see how I became obsessive about through bolting
everything.