STAINLESS STEEL HANDRAILS PLUS COCKPIT DRAINS

STAINLESS STEEL HANDRAILS

Wooden handrails on a MATILDA are things of BEAUTY, but they do require a fair amount of maintenance to keep them looking PROPER. Another factor to consider is how structurally sound are they? After 30+ years of exposure to the elements, even with the best of care, the wood's strength [structure] may have deteriorated.
A case in point is that, the previous owner of our MATILDA was working on his boat, on the trailer, when he lost his footing and grabbed the handrail to break his fall. Unfortunately, the handrail followed him to the ground. Luckily, the only thing hurt was his pride.

When doing the restoration of our boat, locating proper handrails was a challenge. We could find wooden replacement handrails that were close but NOT exactly a PROPER fit. Then, we found out about STAINLESS STEEL OUTFITTERS, located in Barrie, who made the original bow and stern pulpits for the MATILDA. Their handrails were reasonably priced, compared to something close in wood, and fitted the existing mounting pads exactly. Installing them was quite simple and straightforward and we can rest assured that if we ever need to avail ourselves of them, they will serve the purpose they were designed for + THEY WILL NEVER NEED MAINTENANCE!!

COCKPIT DRAINS

One always assumes that the builder of a product has properly designed and built a product that will stand up to the test of time. This may not have been the case with our MATILDA.

For example, while checking over our Matilda prior to launching in the spring of 2008, I was amazed to see something (?) protruding from the starboard cockpit drain exit in our transom. It turned out to be a copper (?) 1" O.D. drain tube. It was protruding out approx 1/2".

Upon checking further, it was quite evident that the tube was very loose in the original placement but what shocked me even more was the fact that by working its way out, it was completly free of the rear of the cockpit wall. The fibreglass at the entry to the drain channel is only 3/16" thick.

Notice the gap at the bottom of the exit hole.

THIS SITUATION COULD BE QUITE CATASTROPHIC!

#1 In the event of a heavy rain (1"or more), all the rain collected in the cockpit could find its way to the bilge.

#2 In the event of significant wave action while the MATILDA is tied up at its dock, water splashing into the exit end of the drain tube could also end up in the bilge.

#3 In the event of a heavily loaded MATILDA ( with several passengers in the cockpit, an outboard motor on the transom and a full fuel tank) enjoying a spirited afternoon of sailing, if the drain tube happened to dislodge while sailing, water could easily enter the transom exit and also find its way to the bilge.

All of the above scenarios could result in the MATILDA slowly filling with water with no one being aware of the situation.

To enable further investigation, the drain tube was removed, after making up a .875" O.D. expandable collet.

Upon examination of the tube, it was evident from the stains on the tube that there must have been some type of adhesive (?) on the outside of the tube that over a period of time period of 30+ years had deteriorated to the point that the tube was no longer restrained in its original position.

As the inner end of the tube only terminated in fibreglass that was 3/16" thick, when the tube moved towards the rear 1/2" the inner end was no longer supported in the rear cockpit wall. The outer end was supported thru the transom wall + 3/8" board glassed to the inside of the transom wall.

The starboard tube , as shot with digital camera from port lazarette.

The port tube was removed quite easily as well.

One of the benefits of this experience was that I learned a digital camera can be a very useful tool. Rather than cut and install a inspection port in the rear cockpit wall, I was able to poke a digital camera into the lazarette, point the camera in the general direction of what I wanted to capture and was able to take a excellent quality image of the situation.

My solution to this problem was to make up longer stainless steel tubes that did not rely upon an adhesive to hold them in position but a mechanical fastening (stainless steel cotter pin) to ensure that they stayed in position. The tubes can only be inserted from the transom end as the built up cockpit floor prevents them from being inserted from the cockpit.

The stainless steel tubes, which were a few thousands of an inch larger than the copper tubes,were a snug fit in the drain tubes holes. I elected to have them protrude thru the transom by 1/2" so that any drain water from the cockpit would not run down the transom. Because of the increased size of the stainless tubes, I did not think it was necessary to use any adhesive as I know they cannot fall out. I will check the next time our MATILDA is out of the water for any seepage and I will certainly check the bilge for water each time we go sailing as our bige is normally dry.

So a note of caution to all MATIDA owners to check that their cockpit drain tubes are in their proper position before launching their boats.