Hand Rails on a 28TE

[Tree]

Good Morning All,

I'm hoping to have an Albin over here in the UK in about 6 weeks time (surveys are all complete and all looks good) but one thing I do feel I need to get done quite quickly is fit some hand rails around the gunwales. I am 6'4" and my father is in his 70's but still very active so we tend to run offshore a fair bit. More so than anything it is for the increased safety of my father when he goes to sea alone, with the added bonus of somewhere to fit some rod holders while fishing.

Now, while one of the chaps that fishes with us owns a fabrication company dealing with fittings for superyachts (and i'm sure he will work out what we need) does anyone on the boards have hand rails fitted and could possibly pop up some pictures to give me some ideas?

cheers

Lee

[DougSea]

Hi Lee,

No pictures for you, but two questions.

Are you referring to rails around the cockpit? I'm assuming the forward rails are still on this boat.

And, is this a flush deck or engine box model? The engine box has higher free board than the flush decks. I'm 6'2" and never felt worried about going over the side. The toe rails really help.

And while the rails may prevent an "Unintended disembarking" the bigger thing for me is a way back onto the boat, from the water, by myself. On our 28 we had a boarding ladder that could be deployed from the water and many have added a secure grab handle to help. On our 35, with no swim platform, I have a dive ladder in a flip up bracket to get myself back aboard. I make sure it's back there when I go out by myself.

[Tree]

Hi Doug,

What we are looking to do is fit handrails around the cockpit area, the forward rails are on the boat. We do a lot of fishing in the winter over here on the anchor with strong tide runs. Should you slip over the side you'd have little chance of getting back in, hence making it that little bit safer. The added bonus of course is that it gives you somewhere to put rod holders. Really its just something we are used to over this side, most boats are fitted with hand rails using 1 1/4" diameter stainless tube, which gives a good size to hold on to.

The Boat is a 2000 engine box model, my only reason behind it is that my friend has also imported a 28TE and we've been in some horrendous conditions with that. I'm just uploading the video to YouTube now as it happens.

I guess its just what you're comfortable with.

Lee

[DougSea]

Makes perfect sense. Seems like a railing system would be something that would be reasonably easy to have fabricated, but I haven't seen that done here. Do think I'd still consider a harness and jackline of some sort if I was out by myself, since even with rails and due care things can still go wrong!

Edit - I did a google search and found a posting here on AOG that has a picture of cockpit rails on a 28. You can try and PM the owner/member.

http://albinowners.net/aog/viewtopic.php?p=8753

Also found one on TheHullTruth.

http://www.thehulltruth.com/boats-sale- ... eck.html#b

And one more on Boatquest.

http://www.boatquest.com/listing/14640/ ... bZ7RfaY7eg

If you go to this one there are several pictures of the cockpit and rail.

[Tree]

Thats perfect! The sides are easy to do, what I couldn't get my head around was how to do the stern and still make use of the lockers and the stern door yet try and keep it looking OEM. I think I would put the rails more outboard in line with the bow rails as the gunwales are wide enough to utilise as somewhere to sit on.

I shall pass the pictures on to my fabricator so when the boat arrives, we've got some ideas to work with.

[RobS]

H...Really its just something we are used to over this side...

I see that as the 3 boats Doug found were all from "your side"

Nice job Doug!

[DougSea]

H...Really its just something we are used to over this side...

I see that as the 3 boats Doug found were all from "your side"

Nice job Doug!

Thanks Rob! It's amazing what a Google image search can do with the right keywords. However...those boats are all to the west, I'm pretty sure Lee's side is the other direction...

[RobS]

You are right, oops, I thought he was a PNW guy..

[Tree]

Afraid not Rob!

Currently there are only 3 Albin 28's over here in the UK - once mine arrives then all 4 will be within a 5 mile radius of each other!

[RobS]

Cool. There's only 3 within a 5 mile radius of mine..