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I spent my afternoon at the blacksmith's giving shape to the new bow rail. The shop may not be "digital" but the result seems to be according to the measurements. We'll see on Monday when we'll put it up if the job was done right.

Just gave the 120o degree angle at the bow.



Onto the curving machine; the tube is 3 meters per side, 25 mm thick; a bit thicker than all the other boat SS tubes.



Curving while bending downwards to give both curvatures in one stroke.



Almost there...



The aluminum rod underneath was the measuring canvass of my deck's dimensions



Voila ! The fine tuning will be done at the boat.




Preston and Tooeez thank you for your contributions in measuring your rails in the snow for me.
I think I'll make mine a bit higher at the bow so as to better serve the anchor mate; we'll see next week.

Looks great. A little higher is safer, and one piece is much better than trusting those screw-on couplings. My entire rail is welded. No fittings at all.

I discussed the issue of whether we should weld it too, but my technician proposed that it's better to rivet the fittings because in case of a bend it will be easier to remove the rivets and straighten it. I agree though, that there is no question to keep the little hex screws.

Good thinking.

I used 1.5 inch aluminum. If I ever need to repair it, it will be the least of my problems……..

I imagine....Katrinas and above !
Here it's different. No Katrinas, but every time you dock, you squeeze through small and big. The rail on the big neighbor's side suffers partial dismantling; this about 10 times per summer. Mending has to be easy and quick.