E-27 Handrail fasteners?

[CaptainBrad]

Hello, appologies if this is redundant, but I didn't see it in the archives, so....here goes...

My E-27 has the handrails inside and out, through-bolted through the deck. We removed them to sand/refinish them, and to re-bed to fix some leaks. When we disassembled, there were simply 1/4-20 hex nuts sort of scrunched into the exterior rail to receive the bolts. When we went to re-assemble them, all the nuts now turn inside the holes and I can't get them tight. Is anyone aware of a good alternative nut type thing that would grip the wood, not turn, fit in the recessed plug holes, and be corrosion resistant (stainless)?

PS- I tried "gluing" the nuts, and it only made things worse ;-(.


Thanks!!!
-BRad

 

[Geoff Johnson]

My local West Marine sells a kind of nut/insert that has "barbs" to grip the wood. They are called Tee Nuts and are found on page 512 of the WM catalog. I used them successfully to create a base for a battery holddown that can be removed. The only problem is that if you want to cover them, they would required a big bung.

WM also sells stainless "threaded inserts" that have wood screw threads on the outside and machine screw threads on the inside. They might work better.

 

[Walter Pearson]

This might be a little late and after the fact, but I have had success with a couple of methods. One is to thin down a small straight bladed screwdriver that has a blade about the width of the flat on the nut. It can be wedged down against the nut to hold it from turning. Make sure the nut flats are facing fore and aft so there isn't any tendency to split the grab rail.

On mine, the need to hold it seems highest just when it starts getting tight. After that, it seems the nut wedges down by itself and resists turning a little more on its own.

The other method does use adhesives, but I drilled out a small chamber next to the nut flats - fore and aft again - before I injected epoxy into those recesses. It forms a 'key' that worked pretty well for me.