Handrail Stanchions

[HagbardCeline]

Hello all. Still new to the Albin. I purchased a 1981 43 Trawler Aft Cabin. Nice boat. Love the lay out, and boy does she handle nicely.

Alas, I have a leak into the Salon. It so far has evidenced itself in two locations.

The first is from the overhead handrail just forward of the companion way to the aft cabin. later, it migrated to the trim inside the aft window of the starboard side of the salon falling just behind the setee.

I started to look at recaulking the teak deck boards, and some of these are lifting from the GRP underneath.I suspect the water is coming in through one of the screws somewhere, but I also wanted to eliminate the handrail stanchions.

They are screwed to the cap rail. What I would like to know is if what appears to be a phillips screw head actually a bolt that is bolted through? If so, is it threaded into a plate, or are there actually nuts there, and if so, how does one get to the nuts. To eliminate the stanchions as the source of the leak, I was hoping to rebed them.

I thank you in advance for your help.

Cheers,

Kai

[dennisspain]

Hi Kai
Welcome aboard!
The stanchions are usually held by #12 wood screws 1 1/2 to 2 inches in length into the cap rail. It is unlikely that they are leaking into the interior however any discoloration of the cap rail indicates the need to rebed. It is a difficult to do individually as propping one disturbs the seal on the adjacent ones.
I recently refinished my cap rail with clear penetrating epoxy and Cetol. Doing a quarter at a time then rebedding the stanchions with butyl tape. Allow about 10 days per section giving adequate cure times between coats.
A big but easy project. If the cap rail is clear and the stanchion base shows no discoloration leave them alone.
Good luck finding your leak, every Albin owner has his or her own “leak” story...
Dennis