Bow/Stern rails

[johnvb1014]

Does anyone know how bow/stern rails are secured on 27 ft aft cabin cruiser? We are replacing the headliner in aft cabin and I can see that the underside where railing is attached to the deck is fiberglassed over. I expected to see nuts and some kind of backing plate. I don't know if bolts and nuts are used with no access to nuts (a very poor design), or maybe lag bolts are used and screwed into deck fiberglass and core. I want to recalk under railing support posts but would like to know what I'm getting in to before I start loosening bolts.

[sshana1]

Did you replace the headliner in the aft cabin? I need to do the same as water was leaking from the stern window. Can you give me info re: the material you used and procedure for removing the existing headliner?

[tego]

John, On my '87 27FC, the bolts securing the rails were run down thru solid ply core material and secured by small flat washers and ss nuts, and then they fiberglassed over them. The nuts invariably come loose from the fiberglass bond and are impossible to tighten down properly again. I suppose they were trying to prevent leaks into the cabin but the core is vulnerable if the bolts come loose and the caulk fails and you can't tighten them down again. Anyway, I chipped all the glass off of mine and redid them properly when I replaced all the rotten tack boards behind my aft cabin headliner. I used large ss fender washers and ss backing plates at the stress points also. They're solid as a rock now. Ben

[DCatSea]

With the recent excessive rainfall in the Chesapeake Bay region, the annoying little occasional drips into the aft cabin, from one aft rail stanchion, that I was going to look at in the winter of 2018, became something that needed some urgent attention.

This afternoon I dropped the headliner in the starboard corner and exposed the bolts holding the stanchion down. One nut was missing (more later) and the other was spinning on the bolt. The original glassing in came away easily, with the missing nut enclosed. It was fairly easy to clean up the deck and bolt holes after removing the bolts. After drying out, I siliconed the base and the new 2 1/2" SS bolts, placed larger washers on and closed with SS locknuts. I will reattach headliner in a few days, after it has had time to dry properly.

Thankfully this is my only leak (touching wood as I write - literally). I'll provide an update after the next downpour.

Here is a pic of the old glassing-in with nut and broken-off bolt attached.

Aft stanchion - original fixture.JPG

[DCatSea]

Further monsoon-like rain all day, while I was onboard, revealed that the fix had worked, and I now have a dry aft cabin - at least until the next monsoon.