Tips for mounting swim step railing

[TylerFromEverett]

Hello!

I just got my swim step railing in and I’m getting ready to mount it to my swim step. Boat is a 21ec.

I have the holes marked and ready to drill. Stainless hardware procured. Wondering what kind, if any, adhesive you’d all recommend. Also, any tips for drilling?

 

[Hamster]

5200 for adhesive and sealant. For drilling, first start your drill in reverse so that the fiberglass doesn't crack, then drill as normal once started. Might also want something underneath for where the drill bit goes through.

Oh yea, measure twice or thrice before you drill.

 

[ixlr8]

The only other recommendation I would have is to slightly counter sink each hole after you have drilled it. This will help prevent cracking in the future and will give a little bit of a pocket for any sealant to sit in to do a better job of sealing.

 

[knotflying]

Bytal Caulk that comes in a tape form is a good bedding for marine use. Countersinking the holes a little is a good suggestion. I would not use 5200. It is a bit too permanent. If I were going the 3m product route I would go either Lifeseal or 4200.

 

[Pilotnavigator]

One important tip... even though you marked each hole do not drill them all at once! Use the rail as a drill guide. Drill one hole on the end and place the rail over the hole and put a bolt in it, then drill a hole at the other end using the rail hole to guide the drill, put a bolt in that one to hold everything in place and continue. To make the chalking easier tape over each location with painter tape before drilling. Once you have the rail all drilled out and bolts slipped into all the holes use a sharp blade to score around the bases. Remover the rail and peal up the tape that was under the rail. Thus leaving a taped boarder around each base. Now chalk around each hole on the deck and mount the rail, use large fender washers under each bolt with nylon locking nuts. The chalk will run out onto the tape boarder. So you can use lots of chalk. Once the chalk has skinned over after 15 minutes carefully peal up the tape and the overflow chalk will peel off nice and clean!

 

[Pilotnavigator]

One more thing... counter sink each hole with a counter sink bit. It is critical for a good seal to have a head of chalk around each bolt that is equal in size to the bolt diameter. So if you are using 1/4 bolts the diameter of the counter sink tapered at the top should be 1/2. This is because each chalk has elasticity percentage. So a very thin film will not survive a freeze thaw cycle but a thicker film will have a greater stretch before breaking.

 

[TylerFromEverett]

Thanks all. I’m grateful.