Installing new handrails?

[althea82]

Hey folks...I’m looking for some suggestions on mounting new teak handrails on our cabin top. The hand rails in the cabin were good enough to refinish but the ones exposed to the elements were wrecked. So we’ve purchased the new handrails, varnished them and now for the tricky part...figuring out how to mount them while using the existing holes on the old rails.

The rails are through bolted, so I need to line them up perfectly to pull this off. I’ve searched the web for advice tackling this project and I’m not coming up with much. The old rails are not drilled out perfectly on center, which also further complicates things.

Here’s the best plan I’ve come up with this far...

Find out the width of the deck, use some scrap wood and match the depth. Clamp both rails to said scrap wood. Use the holes from the old rails as a guide to drill the new ones. Once I accomplish that, use a drill press to make the counter sink holes, then hopefully mount these things and not worry about it for a long time.

If anyone has done this before and has a better method, I’d love to hear it. Thanks in advance!

[stormalong]

I am in the same situation. My deck handrails are through bolted to the ones below. I just measured the distances between the existing bolts on the handrails and drilled the new handrails to match. There is some variation in the distances so it looked like the original builder was vary casual about precision. Haven't had a chance to install them yet so they could be wrong.

BTW, In my opinion exterior handrails should not be varnished. They should be allowed to weather so that they are not slippery when wet.

[coopec43]

Originally Posted by althea82

Hey folks...I’m looking for some suggestions on mounting new teak handrails on our cabin top. The hand rails in the cabin were good enough to refinish but the ones exposed to the elements were wrecked. So we’ve purchased the new handrails, varnished them and now for the tricky part...figuring out how to mount them while using the existing holes on the old rails.

The rails are through bolted, so I need to line them up perfectly to pull this off. I’ve searched the web for advice tackling this project and I’m not coming up with much. The old rails are not drilled out perfectly on center, which also further complicates things.

Here’s the best plan I’ve come up with this far...

Find out the width of the deck, use some scrap wood and match the depth. Clamp both rails to said scrap wood. Use the holes from the old rails as a guide to drill the new ones. Once I accomplish that, use a drill press to make the counter sink holes, then hopefully mount these things and not worry about it for a long time.

If anyone has done this before and has a better method, I’d love to hear it. Thanks in advance!

I think that is the way to go. I have a special teak plug counter-sinker and plug cutter.

[WoodenKetch]

If I understand your plan you will be making a mirror image of your bolt pattern, not the actual pattern you want. The holes are unlikely to be square to the rail.

Can you hold the rail in place while drilling through the existing holes in the deck from the inside? Do one, insert a bolt and do the next one.

Probably a two person job.