O34 Deck & handrails, Casting Procedure(page 2)

The new SS hand rails are ready and have been trial fitted and they do indeed match the existing hole spacing. Cost totaled up more than new teak ones, but not a lot. Our host sourced the polished 316 oval tubing. He also cut the pieces -- sloped cuts for the ends, and short round ss uprights for each bolt location. The new bolts are 5/16, and are welded in to each base. I believe that they really match the "style" of the Olson. But then I would say that!

Note that the spacing for all the loops was maintained. That way when we epoxy-potted the original holes they were re-drilled easily. Also note that we have moved the whole rail forward by a couple of loops. New rail is longer. If you want a copy for your Olson, I can put you in touch with Tom (and his welder buddy). He is going to keep the jig on hand for a while, as long as room can be found for it. And yes, it can be lengthened or shortened. As for cost, The SS hand rails from Fisheries will be a little cheaper, but they only have two loops, even their longer ones, Not as strong, and you still have to fill and gel coat the leftover holes.
As for new teak, price seems to rise all the time, due to the old-growth timber from the 80's being gone.

The welder was happy because Tom built a precision wood jig to hold all the pieces in perfect alignment for welding.
They came back polished out quite smooth at all the welds, and I finished up with a buffer to bring it all up to mirror status.

Speaking of SS, a former member of this site once published some pix of his E-38, and he had replaced the oval teak rails with SS oval tubing, and it really looked great, IMHO. Yachting Tradition... is a many splendored thing... !

Observation: It turns out that stripping down a well-equipped modern performance cruiser for a re-paint is more involved than I had imagined. There is a lot of hardware encrustation on our deck. (!)
There were a number of steps that I had sort of mentally glossed over... but it has all worked out. And now I am getting pretty good at polishing SS parts.

I also cleaned up the steering quadrant today. Turns out there is an Ericson sizing or model designation written on it, but we are unsure what the numbers refer to.