Stainless Rails

[Capt Ron]

The Chris Jay (2000 28 TE ) floated off her blocks during the Sandy storm. Ended up with the starboard rail resting on another boat. This bent the rail and broke the weld at two deck plates. I thought this would be an easy repair, remove the rail, straighten and reweld. Not so. The deck plates are through bolted not attached with wood screws. It turns out the nuts are hidden under the interior ceiling upholstery. So, my question is: Has anyone had to gain access to these nuts and if so how did you gain access?

[Jack]

I'm not able to answer that question but have an additional question. You might have dealt with this. What is the size of the rails? I need to install and burgee staff at the bow. I tried the cheap staff with an aluminum band which doesn't stand up to the wind and eventually broke. I'm willing to buy the stainless steel version but it seems our railings are to large. The hardware is for 7/8" to 1". Even without the insert, it seems that the hardware is too small. Has anyone solved this with some kind of pennant or burgee staff hardware that fits?
Thanks.

[Yearwood]

I did replace the fitting on the port side with the help of some info and a photo from this forum. The headliner over the bunk has to be removed and it is a long stretch to get a socket wrench on the nuts, With someone top sides on a screw driver the bolts can be removed. In my case the weld had fully fractured and the fitting could be removed. I bought a similar fitting which holds the railing with set screws for welding did not seem to be an option. I had to have the fitting reamed for the railing was somewhat over sized and perhaps mis-shaped. All in all a frustrating time consuming job.

I did see a post somewhere on the form this years where someone has successfully removed and re-welded the fitting.

Osprey TE PH 28 2001

[RobS]

I'm not able to answer that question but have an additional question. You might have dealt with this. What is the size of the rails? I need to install and burgee staff at the bow. I tried the cheap staff with an aluminum band which doesn't stand up to the wind and eventually broke. I'm willing to buy the stainless steel version but it seems our railings are to large. The hardware is for 7/8" to 1". Even without the insert, it seems that the hardware is too small. Has anyone solved this with some kind of pennant or burgee staff hardware that fits?
Thanks.

The issue may be due to the curve (bend) in the rail at the forwardmost point over the pulpit, not in the diameter. Try the bracket on a straight section of the rail and see.