Bow Rail fittings ,help please

[Todd Pearce]

Hi to all, My 1986 B42 has its original bow rail ,made with connecting tee joints and angled joiners, its pretty old school but i am keeping it and refinishing it, but i have two joints that need replacing can anyone shed some light on the original supplier?manufacturer of these parts
Regards Todd

[Pete Fallon]

Todd,
Most of the railings were supplied by Perko , some of the very early boats were Wilcox-Chritten. They were chromed brass with set screw joints at the rail top and # 10 screws at the bases.
Pete Fallon

[Todd Pearce]

thanks Pete, hows your knees these days?

[Pete Fallon]

Todd,
I am going to the Hospital on Monday to get it replaced again (#4) it's the last time.If you need any help find parts let me know, my number is posted on the board.
Pete

[SteveM]

If your screws back out, like mine do, you might want to eventually try SS rivets. A restoration guy on the Boston Whaler forum was explaining how he did this to his bow rail and it is now rock solid. I'm going to give it a try. I just need an air rivet gun! Which he says you need. I might as well try it prior to having one welded.

[Stephan]

When I got my boat many of the set screws were missing. This was not as bad as it sounds as the rail was one continuous piece of tubing for each side. If I remember correctly they were metric sized set screws that were not easy to source in stainless. I believe I ended up ordering them from Jamestown Distributors https://www.jamestowndistributors.com/u ... ?pid=55203. I got the type with a point. I installed them by drilling a very small hole in the tubing to seat the point and then used some Loc-Tite to keep them from backing out. Nine years and so far so good.
Best,
Stephan

[Yannis]

You dont need a riveting air gun, just the cheap riveting tool.
I have riveted mine, you have to first mark with a thin marker through the connector hole onto the SS stanchion tube, then drill a hole the diameter of the rivet. Use SS rivets too.
One other trick I did is that while I riveted the connector to the (vertical, or so) stanchion, the horizontal tube (the actual rail) is free inside the connector, so that if and when you bump a pier or pillar, there is some play of the whole rail that protects the stanchion bases to explode from the deck.
This is for the set alen screws. For the deck its better to use screws onto the glass, if you use sikaflex under the stanchion base this will also secure the screws from backing out with vibration.

[Tony Meola]

You dont need a riveting air gun, just the cheap riveting tool.
I have riveted mine, you have to first mark with a thin marker through the connector hole onto the SS stanchion tube, then drill a hole the diameter of the rivet. Use SS rivets too.
One other trick I did is that while I riveted the connector to the (vertical, or so) stanchion, the horizontal tube (the actual rail) is free inside the connector, so that if and when you bump a pier or pillar, there is some play of the whole rail that protects the stanchion bases to explode from the deck.
This is for the set alen screws. For the deck its better to use screws onto the glass, if you use sikaflex under the stanchion base this will also secure the screws from backing out with vibration.

Yannis

I have used a standard pop rivet gun to put in Stainless rivets. It works but you really need to apply a lot and I mean a lot of pressure on the gun to make that rivet pop.

[Yannis]

Tony,

I will start doubting your hands' design lol!!

[Tony Meola]

Tony,

I will start doubting your hands' design lol!!

Hey


I am getting old. I am not 25 anymore. Plus was a desk jockey way too long.

[Yannis]

We all are, Tony, d@mn it...
What I do in similar cases, is I let someone else do the job, under my supervision.
I figure that what it will cost me, is less than what I’ll have to pay to the physiotherapist later in the week, minus the pain too!

I also went into the extreme of thinking what could possibly be an alternative to boating, once I’ll be completely unable to pull onto ropes and anchor lines and acting as a circus contortionist, which is what boating requires....and I thought of moving into a more terrestrial hobby and instead of exploring the seas I may start exploring the land through an RV or similar.
Not the same thing, but possibly equally fulfilling to discover the fawna and flora of the countryside.
Oh, and I could mount a 4 meter inflatable on the roof so that I could still enjoy the sea and beaches in the summer...

[Rawleigh]

Get one like this:

https://www.harborfreight.com/heavy-dut ... 66422.html

[Tony Meola]

That works, a two handed model, you can get some leverage there.

[Pete Fallon]

Steve M,
I would not use rivet's on the rail bases they don't have the strength that stainless steel bolts do, plus the deck is cored with 1/2" marine plywood with glass over it, I don't think the barrel of the rivet is long enough to compress correctly. Take the head liner down and do it right, plus you can get some caulking abound the thru bolts and will not allow water to get into the plywood core. While you have the head liner down you can check all the cleat thru bolts, bow chock bolts and your rub rail bolts for leakage and loosening. Just be careful taking down the teak trim and don't over tightening them when replacing trim pieces the will crack very easily.
Pete Fallon