Stantions, Stern Railing and angle of the dangle

[Nikolina]

Hello everyone, I'm getting my 1963 Islander 32 ready for a trip around Vancouver island next year. One of the upgrades is new/more stantions mounted to the deck. I purchased from a used marine store a set stantions with a heavy duty base. The base is 90 degrees to the stantion, so when its mounted to the deck they'll be at what ever angle the deck is at, instead of straight up. So I'm thinking of cutting wedges to the proper angle and then epoxying them to the deck. Is this the right way to do this? Also I want to replace the stern railing with one that wraps more of the cockpit, basically extending the railing by another 3-4 feet, and maybe adding a middle rail. I'm thinking of using 3/4' galvanized or black steel pipe for this. (I've been welding for 20 years) Other than guarding against rust by painting the railing anyone see a problem with this application?
Thanks
Nikolina
P.S. Merry Christmas

[Stumble]

Nik,

Even plaining steel pipe won't work. It isn't enough to paint the outside, you also need full coverage of the inside to protect it from salt and humidity born in the air. It is technically possible, but why bother.

Assuming you can do the welding and bending yourself, the raw tubing isn't that expensive. Aluminium or stainless would be the traditional, but I could probably work a pretty good deal on titanium remnants. Ever way grab a good TIG welder and a bending break and avoid the corrosion problems.

[daddle]

Stainless steel tube is easy to weld. But the bending tools are expensive. Weld up a squarish one. Iron pipe would be a terrible method.

[jnrdafoe]

No offense intended.
A professionally built addition to or a completely customized stern rail will help in the resale value of the boat immensely! It not only "looks" professional but it also says that the owner has done all that they could to keep the boat better than original.
I suggest you contact White Water Marine for your stantion bases and SS rail work.
VERY good work and reasonablly priced.

[Cheechako]

There are used railings around which can be a bargain and easy to rework. Dont use steel or iron. Have you considered just using lee cloths instead around the cockpit? A little "out" angle on the stancions wouldnt be bad, and less leak prone than tapered shims. Most boats I see the stancions are angled out a little, rare to see them truely vertical....

[Stumble]

Guys the OP is a professional welder, I would think a railing would be a pretty easy project.

[Nikolina]

Thanks guys for the comments, not exactly sure which way I'll go but leaning toward steel pipe, (cause I can get it for free!) Also thinking of powder coating when finished. I know stainless is the norm but you would think that there would be other alternatives. Part of me says do it just to see if it works!
P.S. I didn't say professional welder, just enough to get me in trouble!

[Greenhand]

Originally Posted by Nikolina

Thanks guys for the comments, not exactly sure which way I'll go but leaning toward steel pipe, (cause I can get it for free!) Also thinking of powder coating when finished. I know stainless is the norm but you would think that there would be other alternatives. Part of me says do it just to see if it works!
P.S. I didn't say professional welder, just enough to get me in trouble!

Won't that be rather heavier than tubing?

[Nikolina]

Depending on wall thickness 1-2 lbs per foot, and just roughly calculating 50' plus (6' across the back, 7 feet each side x 2) , probably somewhere around 90 to 130lbs for a stern rail. So heavy but not too heavy!

[kthoennes]

Having just replaced some of the stanchions and rails on mine, the thought of using black or galvanized pipe just seems bizarre to me - even if it is free to the OP. I was amazed how much water, spider webs, bugs, and other crud got inside the tubing, and I'm just freshwater (for now). I also had to replace almost every crappy zamak fitting on the rail work because of all the pitting and corrosion - and so I can't imagine any coating on plain pipe that would hold up any better than chrome plating on zinc (which is mostly what that zamak junk is).

[Cheechako]

Nikolina, where in the PNW are you? If near Bellingham, the used boat parts place downtown had tons of old SS railing, pulpits etc laying around last time I was there.....

[Nikolina]

As far as the railing to be built it would be sealed. In other words the ends would have caps welded shut so nothing would or could enter. And I would think the rust would only start from where any paint would be scratched or worn. I think most of your commercial boats (tugs, trawlers and ferries) would have this type of application. So maybe a little more maintenance. Cheechako, I'm south of Tacoma but will be driving up north in the next couple months. What's the name of the used parts store?

[Cheechako]

Originally Posted by Nikolina

As far as the railing to be built it would be sealed. In other words the ends would have caps welded shut so nothing would or could enter. And I would think the rust would only start from where any paint would be scratched or worn. I think most of your commercial boats (tugs, trawlers and ferries) would have this type of application. So maybe a little more maintenance. Cheechako, I'm south of Tacoma but will be driving up north in the next couple months. What's the name of the used parts store?

Pacific Marine Exchange. Closed mondays I think. click on this link and look in the picture... you can see a pile of SS railings to the left in the photo.... just part of what they have. Google Maps

[markpierce]

Stainless steel tubing of 1 or 1-1/2 inch diameter would be wise. Key is to securely attach the railings to the hull.

[Cheechako]

If your Islander 32 has a stern pulpit already, why not just buy fittings and add the second tube using heavy duty Bimini style fittings?