I just took my wnter cover off this weekend and immediately had my deck washed by a thunderstorm. This gave me a chance to check for leaks which led to the discovery that both hand rails were leaking into the cabin from the most aft attachment. Looks to me to remove a hand rail there are only 6 readily accessible screwheads so no big deal. My question is what to do to rebed the hand rail. I am thinking of drilling out the bolt holes, filling them with expoxy and redrilling them, making a chamfer then using butyl tape as a seal. Have others drilled out and refilled the original holes or does one just need to clean the area, apply new bedding compound and use the original holes unmodified?
Rick Verbeek
Southpaws 1999 C36 #1763
Toronto, Lake Ontario
Rick Verbeek
Southpaws
1999 C36 #1763
Lakeshore Yacht Club
Toronto
I'm not sure I know what you mean by handrails. But I found 2 leaking lifeline stanchions this spring (well, it's supposed to be spring ;) ) I drilled, epoxy filled, redrilled, countersunk and bedded with butyl tape, per Mainsail's article. In my view, rebedding with the butyl tape will probably fix the leak, but it won't protect the core from any future leaks. Filling with epoxy and redrilling protects that core, so a leak will just be an inconvenience, not an expensive problem.
I plan to re-bed everything over the coming season, and will use the same procedure.
Gary and Cathy Price
1997 C36 Mk II Tall Rig/Wing Keel Imagine...
Hull # 1617
Worton Creek, Md.
Northern Chesapeake Bay
Thanks Gary: I actually meant the hand rail along the coach roof. See attached photo. Looks like removal, rebedding and reinstallation will be very straight forward - and I totally agree with butyl tape for this. What I am not sure about is whether I should drill out the coach roof holes and refill them with epoxy. I will do this if it looks to me like there is exposed core but won't really know until I get the hand rail off - unless someone has already done this and knows from experience.
Rick Verbeek
1999 C36 #1763
Lakeshore Yacht Club
Toronto, Lake Ontario
Rick Verbeek
Southpaws
1999 C36 #1763
Lakeshore Yacht Club
Toronto
Ah, my bad, I should have known what you meant; now it's clear.
I had a leak on the teak handrails on my '88 C30. The biggest problem I had was re-aligning the holes once it was removed, as it tried to straighten out again. Was a 2 person job. Our C36's have stainless rails, and I don't know if that'll be a problem or not. I know that when I do re-bed, I'll use the same process Mainsail recommends. It really doesn't take long at all. Longest part of the job was waiting for the epoxy to set up; gave me a chance to take a nap :)
Gary and Cathy Price
1997 C36 Mk II Tall Rig/Wing Keel Imagine...
Hull # 1617
Worton Creek, Md.
Northern Chesapeake Bay
Thanks Gary. I'll follow your advice including the nap.
Rick Verbeek
1999 C36 #1763
Lakeshore Yacht Club
Toronto, Ontario
Rick Verbeek
Southpaws
1999 C36 #1763
Lakeshore Yacht Club
Toronto
I had the same unfortunate experiance. When I removed the starbd hand rail I discovered that NONE of the hand rail holes had ANY caulking. As much for quality control!!
All where properly caulked and no leaks ever since.
Good luck on your repairs.
Cheers Wilf