Bent Stainless Steel Pulpit Rail Repair

[Aeronaut]

I would be most grateful for any advice in how to straighten a bent stainless steel pulpit rail.
I was caught out by a freak wave when tied up against a friends boat offshore. Only damage was a bent pulpit rail to my boat. I have tried straightening by using a block of wood but no joy.
I was wondering if a pipe bender or similar would do the trick? The rail does have a crease which I am aware will not be recoverable.
Any ideas/similar experience fixes would be appreciated. Thanks.

[chrisr]

sorry : only way you are going to fix that properly is take it off the boat, crop out the damaged section, and replace it

cheers,

[Shrew]

+2 ^^^^

I had the same thing happen when a friend attempting to raft with me (I don't raft with him any more). I had to get a marine metal fabricator remove the broken section and replace it.

Why in the world would you raft up to another boat offshore?

[Aeronaut]

Thanks very much for your replies. I think I will try the crop out option if I can find a fabricator willing and able to do the job for me.
The reason for the rafting offshore was that my friend's boat was at anchor and fishing on a flat calm day. We were sharing a coffee and a chat when a freak wave from a distant passing ship hit us. Every day a school day!

[OS2Dude]

Another option is to look for a boat of the same type that is being parted out. When our stern railing was hit (twice) while in our slip it was cheaper to buy a used one than to get a new one made. Was talking to a fabricator about cutting out the crimped section and straightening out the bends when it was hit by another out of control boat and that was all she wrote for that railing.

[Dougtiff]

If the tubbing is one inch, you can use 3/4" as a sleeve, i have built pulpit's using this system, and using S.S. rivet's to secure the component's, so you could cut the the tube above the bend, using a tubing cutter, that will give you a square cut, and cut below the bend, put the base in a vise, and straighten it out, [S.S. is soft], sleeve wit 4/4", and rivet. Note, if you use a tubbing cutter, take a Rat tail file and clean up the inside edge.

[glcalahan]

My '72 Pearson 33 had rust crack that was 360° and was told that a welder would blow a hole in cheap Chinese SS. I was told $300-500 to recreate my bow pulpit. I woke at 4am thinking " what if 7/8" OD S s would fit into 1" OD SS. It WORKED! I removed the pulpit and screwed to sheet of plywood, cut a 12" x 7/8" piece of SS and 4" x 1" and used a tube cutter to cut exact 4". Slid the 4" over 7/8" and had it tig welded for $25. I polished it and you can not tell.

[j.g.evans]

I don't think you can make the crease disappear, but, I have made things presentable using a heavy , 1" ID, split, collet that I used to clamp and thereby round the crease. You might be able to drill out the end to a 3/4 hole and hammer in a rod. You would have to remove pulpit. A pipe bender will straighten the section, but, you should protect surfaces with sections of soft metal, perhaps 1" AL or Cu pipe. Hopefully your pulpit is made from annealed SS.

[glcalahan]

Remove the assembly and fasten to plywood so footprint is same. Used tube cutter to cut out bent.

[Allied39]

Remove the entire thing and have it repaired.....or....and this is obviously the 2nd best option but well done highly acceptable would be to sleeve it.
A number of ways to do this but very do able and done well the appearance would be very good.

[Sailor647]

We bent a stanchion once. Totally our fault. We were coming into a slip, underestimated the current and ended up sideways on another boats anchor. (No damage to the other boat.)

We removed the stanchion, which involved disassembling the inside cabinet to get to the bolts and also removing lifelines.

We took it to a Mexican stainless steel fabricator here in La Paz thinking it would have to make a new one. He heated it with a torch and packed it with sand - yes beach sand - kept heating, kept packing - and carefully moved it back into shape from the inside out. No crease, no split. You can't tell it was ever bent. Some of these guys are amazing craftsmen. (Some are not. lol)

He charged us $50 pesos. About $2.50 USD.

[Skipper Lee]

I had a bent/creased one that my boat came with.
I removed it and found a solid round bar close to the same size as the stanchion ID. I upended the stanchion heated the crease with just a propane torch and drove the round bar inside the stanchion and tapped out the crease with a hammer from the outside. Then I filed it, sanded it and polished it up.
Your bend looks well creased so get a couple of sizes of bar and work your way up to the ID. If you can grind/round up the tip of the bar it drives in easier.
It costed me nothing but I suppose not everyone has a few round bars available. Might cost about 5 bucks for a few bits of round bar at some fab shop anywhere, Mabey just borrow the bars at a shop.

I agree with the sand fill/pack technique and thats old school and how my dad sometimes bent tubing around things without creasing it.

When I was little my grandad also packed my flat bike tire with rags, LOL

[Kingfisher1]

A fellow sailor once told me that he repaired the tubing portion of musical instruments that were dented or otherwise damaged. The technique was to use steel balls, starting with small and working up to the ID of the tubing. The balls would be pushed through the tubing, smallest first, and gradually the shape was restored. Stainless might be too tough but it worked with brass.

[Dougtiff]

So how are you going to get the sand or bar's inside the tubing ?, cut the foot off ?, might as well cut the tube above and below, insert 3/4" tube inside, no welding required, just rivet.

[Skipper Lee]

My stanchions bottoms had open tubing, See earlier posted photo.
Obviously doesnt work for every occasion.