I'm backtrackingn a bit here but I was getting pressed for time since I wanted the rails to be ready or at least operational for the upcoming Painted Bluff cruise on July 28, 2018. Thus I brought the rails back to the boat between finishing steps for fitting steps. Here I placed the unfinished hand rails on the boat so I could establish the position of the aft most blocks.
The aft most block is positioned. I glued it down to the top of the cabin with epoxy so it would not be moving later on. A block that can possibly shift would greatly complicate fitting efforts later on.
For once a spider web catches the sawdust as I drill the hole through.
I worked from aft to forward. I used the template to establish the position of the handrail. I then placed the block under the hole. I inserted the bit to center it and square it with the cabin top. If I had trouble getting the bit all the way in I ran the drill in reverse. This helped the bit to bottom out without cutting the sides of the hole bigger than planned. Next I drilled a hole all the way through. I inserted a 3 1/2" bronze screw to hold the block. Then I moved to the next one.
As luck would have it I scored what I call a "bulkhead bullseye". I had this problem with both port and starboard. This is another problem to think about how to solve.
After drilling all the holes through the cabin for the mounting screws I taped the blocks to line them up with the hand rail. I then removed the screws and hand rail. I applied epoxy between the blocks and cabin top. Then I put the screws back in to hold the position of the block.
After the epoxy cured I removed the screws. This proved more difficult than I anticipated. I had to buy a propane torch and a large screw driver. I played the lit torch on the screw for about 5 seconds. Then I waited for about 10 seconds. Then I was able to extract the screw without damaging it. I removed the tape and sanded the burrs smooth. Then I applied a coat of finish paint. Just these steps took the better part of a day's visit to the boat.
At this point I ran the painted bluff cruise. The hand rails did fine. After the cruise I was able to relax the tempo of work a bit and rest. I removed the rails and took them home for final finishing.
When I came back I bedded the hand rails with dolphinite putty. This will prevent water ingress from the sides. Then I put the machine screws in.
The bolt is fastened below with a T nut. This provides good thread holding while maintaining a nearly flush surface.
I put a bung in here and secured it with Gorilla Glue. After it dried I carefully cut the top of the bung off approximately flush with a Japanese hand saw. I used heavy grit sandpaper to smooth it flush. Then I applied a coat of varnish to seal it up.
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