Satisfied with your railings?

The Coot's 360-degree level deck is circled by a gunwale and railing. Rails consists of 1.25-inch steel tubing on the vertical posts and the top rail, with 1-inch tubing for the lower rail. They're sturdy (don't wiggle when one takes hold) and come up to the waist. There are also railings on the top edges of the saloon and forward cabin, providing a two-hand hold when desired when maneuvering along the relatively wide 16-inch side decks. I'm happy with the arrangement, particularly since I've a poor sense of balance.

Mark: The answer is "no", I'm not satisfied. I have no problems with the strength of my SS railings, many with double base stanchions, but when being aboard the Great Harbors and larger Krogens, I prefer the larger diameter for grip and rigidity. If someone gave me the material, I'd change them in a heartbeat. Always admired your substantial rails, by the way.

Yes. They are a good compromise between the usual and what I really want ... none. See the 1st pic. No fat tube railings. No fenders. No anchor pulpit or anchor to be seen either. Not much of anything but a skinny wire. The boat would look better if the wire wasn't white too.

In the second pic see the great clean lines and unspoiled visibility over the bow. This is ideal but at times the safety of the wire sailboat railings are a comfort.

Eric, the railings don't limit the forward view much.



Although passengers sitting on the forward cabin roof may cause me to walk across the pilothouse to maintain a complete view.



But then can peek outside the pilothouse door for an unubstructed view.

markpierce said:

Eric, the railings don't limit the forward view much.

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I don't think they limit the forward view at all. Everyone has their own sight picture that they prefer but bow pulpit railings, side railings that run all the way up to the bow, and so forth don't impair my forward visibility one iota. I don't even see them when we're underway. Same as I don't see the panel brace in some types of floatplanes that runs diagonally across the windshield right in front of my face. You learn to "look around" them.

And between the boat's movement and my movement at the wheel, those little railing tubes never keep me from seeing anything directly in front of the boat.

Railings? railings ? , We don't need no stinking railings!

Work boat ,cruiser, railings just get in the way.

Plenty of hand holds for moving about , and a deep aft deck it woud be hard to get swept out of.

My only complaint is that the top rail on mine is teak, I wish it was SS. the stanchions and other rails is 1.25"
Steve W

Railings

Mainship has done a pretty good job for a production boat. 1 1/4" stainless above the gunwale and all the way around the exposed upper deck. Upper deck comes to the waist and the lowers are a bit higher. Strong and bases are well mounted.

We're pretty happy with ours. They're several inches taller and more stout than our last boat, with 1 1/4" top rail and 1" lower rail. I wish they came back a little further along each side, but we're not griping.

Happy with ours. 1 1/4 SS top rails.

Yes.

Steve said:

My only complaint is that the top rail on mine is teak, I wish it was SS. the stanchions and other rails is 1.25"
Steve W

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Roger that, on the SS caps!

Otherwise I'm happy. I have a healthy respect (fear?) of the sea and wanted a boat with deep gunwales and sturdy railings. Along with a flybridge they were a "must have."

Hahahaha,

Like mark .... "don't need no stink'in FB".

Yup .... I'm about 95% into that.

manyboats said:

The boat would look better if the wire wasn't white too.

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Eric I believe you can peel that white plastic coating off and expose the stainless wire. A friend did that on his Catalina 42 four or five years ago and it looks MUCH nicer.

I like my teak handrail. Though we usually keep it covered.

Tolly has railings and hand-holds galore. We're very happy with ours.

NO Wood to Maintain!

Art said:

NO Wood to Maintain!

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Hey! we are trying to support the local economy. Or at least put Julio's kids through college. LOL. Actually we got the covers to save on maintenance and it has paid off. Though if the wood is always covered, it seems kind of a waste to have beautiful wood.

Pineapple Girl said:

Hey! we are trying to support the local economy. Or at least put Julio's kids through college. LOL. Actually we got the covers to save on maintenance and it has paid off. Though if the wood is always covered, it seems kind of a waste to have beautiful wood.

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I noticed the nice fitting (new looking) covers on your hand-rail. Good job!!

Pineapple Girl said:

Actually we got the covers to save on maintenance and it has paid off. Though if the wood is always covered, it seems kind of a waste to have beautiful wood.

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We keep our rail covers on most of the time and they do make a big difference in maintenance. Also I have very little time to spend working on the wood as much as I enjoy it. So the covers help prevent further deterioration on the wood we haven't had time to properly refinish yet.

We take them off for longer cruises. I much prefer the look of wood rails and trim on a boat to the "Clorox bottle" look of many production boats even if the wood makes for more maintenance. And actually we learned a long time ago that we can work on the wood when we're out on the boat if we want to. Rather pleasant to do some finish work in a nice anchorage as opposed to the slip.

Yes, it could be seen as a shame to cover the wood, but the fact is that the wood is always there and you can uncover it whenever you want to. The folks with the Clorox bottle boats simply have---- well, Clorox bottle boats. Way boring looking in my book.

People go out of their way to go look at a nice looking boat with beautiful wood on it. But they don't give a glance at the bottle boats like Uniflites, Tollycrafts, Bayliners, Carvers, and such. I certainly don't.

I'm not happy with my rails at the bow. It might be hard to visualize from the photo, but above the deck the bow flares out at the same angle as the bow itself. Then the rails continue that outward flare. The result is that if your leg is against the rail you are already half way overboard! Pretty useless - may as well not have any rails. Although I like the teak capping.

At some point I want to change the rails so they actually provide safety and support. I think with vertical stanchions, possibly set inboard below the toe rail and raised a few inches higher they would be great. I'd like to try a photoshop mod first to confirm the look. And right now there are more pressing calls for boat dollars, so it will be a while.

Insequent said:

I'm not happy with my rails at the bow. It might be hard to visualize from the photo, but above the deck the bow flares out at the same angle as the bow itself. Then the rails continue that outward flare. The result is that if your leg is against the rail you are already half way overboard! Pretty useless - may as well not have any rails. Although I like the teak capping.
At some point I want to change the rails so they actually provide safety and support.

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Rail heights which are too low may trip you overboard if you come against them unexpectedly rather than retain you onboard, because too much body weight is above the rail. Worse still,the railing gives a false sense of security, encouraging risky behavior.
That`s why building regulations specify balcony railing heights on buildings.

We have 'teak tops'which I like, what I don't like is the very 'agricultural' stanchions that support them. Also, unlike my last boat there is no horizontal wire or rail running between the hand rail and the teak bulwark, which if you have young kids on board is a good thing.

Warning thread creep! I also like the idea of canvas in-fills around the lower deck and flybridge, dark blue would be good.

Some boats like Pilot or rescue boats have their rails WAY inbd. So far that one walks outboard of the rails and uses them holding on.

Andy G,
I think your problem is that the designer of your boat viewed it as sculpture only. It would'nt be easy to do but you could re-do the rails so they slanted "tumbling home" the same amount as they "flare" the way they are. Perhaps you could swap sides w the stanchions?

Jennifer wrote;
"Eric I believe you can peel that white plastic coating off and expose the stainless wire. A friend did that on his Catalina 42 four or five years ago and it looks MUCH nicer."
VERY good idea Jen ... I never thought of that.

Andy--- GBs up through the mid 80s or so have very basic bronze U-section stanchions. I like them because they fit the overall character of the boat. You also don't have to polish them.

With regards to the stainless safety wire you could add that to your boat easily enough, I think, by drilling holes through your stanchions and coming up with a good anchoring system for the ends of the wires. I've seen that done on a few GBs in our marina and it looks good and is very functional.

Marin said:

... I much prefer the look of wood rails and trim on a boat ..

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SS railings are more consistent with the Coot's work-boat appearance.

markpierce said:

The Coot's 360-degree level deck is circled by a gunwale and railing. Rails consists of 1.25-inch steel tubing on the vertical posts and the top rail, with 1-inch tubing for the lower rail. They're sturdy (don't wiggle when one takes hold) and come up to the waist. There are also railings on the top edges of the saloon and forward cabin, providing a two-hand hold when desired when maneuvering along the relatively wide 16-inch side decks. I'm happy with the arrangement, particularly since I've a poor sense of balance.

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Those are indeed remarkable fine railings Mark... remarkable fine.
(The favourite saying of a Dutch friend of mine just seemed appropriate there).
Now, the anchor...oh dear...that's another matter....
:lol:

Greetings,
Mr. Peter B. I'm surprised at you. Casting potential slurs in the general direction of a boating accessory named in honor of your fellow countrymen...

Monty Python - Bruce - YouTube

Mark,
What is that red boat behind you and those other boats? Are they Coots? They look like bigger boats but very similar. Is that in Asia? Looks like a VERY big city in the background.
And the red boat looks to have a monster Rocna anchor.

My wife would not buy and boat with open rails and/or low rails. One of the features she like about the Eagle was the solid rails, the Portuguese bridge and not side decks for when we have young grand children and now great grand children. Yes our boat is some what baby/kid proof. Also many blue water boat have solid and high railings to protect the passenger and crew.

So it not so much what they are made of but their function?

manyboats said:

Mark,
What is that red boat behind you and those other boats? Are they Coots? They look like bigger boats but very similar. Is that in Asia? Looks like a VERY big city in the background.
And the red boat looks to have a monster Rocna anchor.

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Yes, the photo was taken in China by the builder. The boat directly behind my boat is the Coot Cormorant. The two other boats are other models also built by Seahorse Marine.