how to fix loose handrail

[Patrick4002]

Hello, on our trader we have on the side entrance 2 handrail poles that are loos to one side, who nows how these are mounted ?

or houw to inprove the mounting ?

on the back i can remove the cealing and you van see mounting plates with scews on them i think the one in the corner is from a handrail post.
the problem is that the underside of the 2 problem poles are not acceseble

one pole haze a side tube for beter fixing, i thingking in do the same but smaller on the outside but is has to be custum made.

Who has better ideas or now houw i can fix it from the upper side

best regards,
Patrick

pic 1 the reling pole
pic 2 the pole in question who has already a informent on the inside
pic 3 how the inforsment is connected
pic 4 the underside in the back cabine : the plate in the corner

 

[Comodave]

Can you put an access plate on the inside of the railing in question? Maybe a 4” access plate would allow you to get to the inside and put in an aluminum plate and through bolt them.

 

[Patrick4002]

make access plate

the constuction of the pole in quistion, is very difficult to cut a access plate, t have to cut in the teak of the deck to access and there are several beams inside witch i now not the exact place

can i make 2 holes in the bottom part of the pole an inject epoxy in it ?
would that be a solution ?

 

[Comodave]

No, I don’t think that would work. You will at a minimum need to remove the stanchion base and work on the fiberglass under the base. There are multiple ways to try to fix it so the rail will be more solid. The best and simplest would be to get to the bottom and put an aluminum plate in and though bolt the base. But if you can’t do that then you will have to make the screws holding the base more secure. You can drill out the holes larger and fill them with thickened epoxy and then drill and tap the epoxy. You could use an insert into the glass to bolt to. I believe there was a thread recently about this. Maybe do a search and look at it. Good luck.

 

[ghost]

Slow down and get creative. Can you drop a cord through the mounting holes and fish up a backing plate? I once thought about two thin in width stainless plates with nuts already welded on that I could insert lengthwise through a thin hole just narrower than the width of the stantion plate, then pull it up flush with the underside. Did not have to do that as I was able to remove a vent plate somewhat nearby and use some long tools to insert a backing that way instead. Two main challenges, how you can get a backing plate behind there and how to hold it in place until you can get bolts into it. Had one once where some extra long bolts allowed easier access to get nuts on where accessible, it was a long process to draw them up, but it worked.

Usually it’s just one or two you can’t easily get to, of course they are the bad ones because nobody was ever able to maintain them. I don’t normally like screws, but if you can through bolt on either side of the bad , then maybe oversized drilling out the ones you can’t get to, epoxying in some new wood and screwing into that is good enough.

I’ve set waxed screws into epoxy before, it can be hit or miss. In my experience that’s not remotely as good as a backing plate or even small washers behind nuts on the back. The smaller bolts on a railing I’ve had more bad luck than good with epoxy and you really want a good amount of it sort of acting like a backing plate, and figuring out a way to capture the epoxy is difficult. One way is some expanding foam, then inject some thickened fiber strengthened epoxy with a caulking gun, then set a long waxed screw into the epoxy. Still would be my last choice. I’d probably cut some narrow slots to insert a small backing or washer, then do a fiberglass/gel coat repair before choosing the epoxy method.

 

[rgano]

Slow down and get creative. Can you drop a cord through the mounting holes and fish up a backing plate? I once thought about two thin in width stainless plates with nuts already welded on that I could insert lengthwise through a thin hole just narrower than the width of the stantion plate, then pull it up flush with the underside. Did not have to do that as I was able to remove a vent plate somewhat nearby and use some long tools to insert a backing that way instead. Two main challenges, how you can get a backing plate behind there and how to hold it in place until you can get bolts into it. Had one once where some extra long bolts allowed easier access to get nuts on where accessible, it was a long process to draw them up, but it worked.

Usually it’s just one or two you can’t easily get to, of course they are the bad ones because nobody was ever able to maintain them. I don’t normally like screws, but if you can through bolt on either side of the bad , then maybe oversized drilling out the ones you can’t get to, epoxying in some new wood and screwing into that is good enough.

I’ve set waxed screws into epoxy before, it can be hit or miss. In my experience that’s not remotely as good as a backing plate or even small washers behind nuts on the back. The smaller bolts on a railing I’ve had more bad luck than good with epoxy and you really want a good amount of it sort of acting like a backing plate, and figuring out a way to capture the epoxy is difficult. One way is some expanding foam, then inject some thickened fiber strengthened epoxy with a caulking gun, then set a long waxed screw into the epoxy. Still would be my last choice. I’d probably cut some narrow slots to insert a small backing or washer, then do a fiberglass/gel coat repair before choosing the epoxy method.

Very creative ideas, but as I look at the bases in the two photos showing that part of the rail stanchions, I see no exposed screw or bolt heads to deal with. Because of their inaccessibility from within the boat, a more extensive repair involving cutting out and refiberglassing the areas may be in order.

 

[RT Firefly]

Greetings,
Mr. rg. That's pretty well along the same lines as I was thinking. Another possibility may be cutting off the old base entirely and re-fitting the vertical tubing into one of these:

 

[Patrick4002]

many thanks all for thinking to get a simple good selution.
I can not access the underside without extensive cutten of the deck or side
there is a plate under the pole but i think one of the 2 scews is loosend.

I choose as a sulotion to bolt a rvs strap on the outside and fix it to the hull like the tubing done on the inside see foto 2 and 3 or try to make a access hole in the nearby the pole

i let you now witch works in the next week (and post some pictures)
Best regards,
Patrick
Sorry for the bad englisch.