Railing hardware fasteners

Aurelia · Posted: Tue May 11, 2010 1:16 am Post subject: Railing hardware fasteners

In building the launch for our dinghy, I am using lots of stainless railing connectors with little set screws. They are sturdy but I would like them to be more solid at the joints. I have heard of folks using locktite blue on the set screws to secure them but has anyone done any light drilling for those screws to set better or used an adhesive inside the stainless joints to secure the connections even better. Once I have the design tested and tweaked, I was thinking of using any and all of these methods to secure the structure. Anything short of welding it all together?

Locktite, JB weld, tiny holes drilled for better set on the set screws?

What have you tried?

colobear · Posted: Tue May 11, 2010 8:56 am Post subject:

You might want to consider just using the set screws until you have been on the water with your setup. Boat movement may make you want to tweak things a little and it would be a whole lot easier without the more permanent stuff, Locktite blue is pretty permanent. I just use the setscrews for the s/s/ canvas frame on C-Cakes and have found it convenient to be able to make changes from time to time.

thataway · Posted: Tue May 11, 2010 9:01 am Post subject:

Agree, just use the set screws for now, until you are sure that it works for you.

Aurelia · Posted: Tue May 11, 2010 10:53 am Post subject:

Thats what I plan to do. We have done some testing at the marina but plan to play with it lots more for a few days during our extended Friday Harbor trip. I have more stainless to add today. Evolution marches on.