Re: Replace hand rail on cabin top?
Posted: Thu Mar 09, 2023 5:32 pm
Hi all, I am at the moment replacing my hand rails. Some owner prior to me replaced them using broom handles which did not want to bend to the required shape and shows signs of cracking. I would have loved to replace them with teak, but it's expensive. Also, I wanted to make them with the correct bend in them.
I had a sheet of about 1/4 inch craft wood sheeting, so cut a strip about 6 inches wide to sit on the cabin roof and held it in place with masking tape. Then I used a set of adjustable callipers and used then to transfer each side edge of the hand rail mounts to the sheeting. Then I temporally nailed this sheet to the work bench using 1 1/2 inch thin brads which lined up to each side of each of the marks where the hand rail mounts are on the sheet. Then used a thin battern to mark out the shape of each edge of the rail. The sheet now had the exact shape of the handrail on it so I cut it out on the band saw and then used it as a pattern to cut the shape out of solid timber which I had previously run through the thicknesser to the height of the diameter of the hand rail. This then gave me a square hand rail of the exact shape I wanted.
Then I ran each corner of the length of it through a 1/2 inch cup router bit giving me the round correct hand rail that I wanted. A hell of a lot of work but it fits to the boat perfectly and is under absolutely no bending pressure.
1st photo shows shape of hand rail 2nd and 3rd photo shows the handrails just sitting in place. Has not been screwed down as yet I used Tasmanian myrtle for these because I had some on hand. Problem with that is that myrtle is a very hard, crisp wood but it does rot easily so will be treated with deck Oijl, both no 1 and to put a gloss on it, No 2 to finish
I had a sheet of about 1/4 inch craft wood sheeting, so cut a strip about 6 inches wide to sit on the cabin roof and held it in place with masking tape. Then I used a set of adjustable callipers and used then to transfer each side edge of the hand rail mounts to the sheeting. Then I temporally nailed this sheet to the work bench using 1 1/2 inch thin brads which lined up to each side of each of the marks where the hand rail mounts are on the sheet. Then used a thin battern to mark out the shape of each edge of the rail. The sheet now had the exact shape of the handrail on it so I cut it out on the band saw and then used it as a pattern to cut the shape out of solid timber which I had previously run through the thicknesser to the height of the diameter of the hand rail. This then gave me a square hand rail of the exact shape I wanted.
Then I ran each corner of the length of it through a 1/2 inch cup router bit giving me the round correct hand rail that I wanted. A hell of a lot of work but it fits to the boat perfectly and is under absolutely no bending pressure.
1st photo shows shape of hand rail 2nd and 3rd photo shows the handrails just sitting in place. Has not been screwed down as yet I used Tasmanian myrtle for these because I had some on hand. Problem with that is that myrtle is a very hard, crisp wood but it does rot easily so will be treated with deck Oijl, both no 1 and to put a gloss on it, No 2 to finish