Does this seem a reasonable choice for stanchion bases?

[Jdege]

My new boat lacks stanchions and lifelines.

It has pulpit and pushpit, secured by very short wood screws (that is, not really secured at all.) And no stanchions in between.

Replacing or remounting the pulpit and pushpit, and adding stanchions and lifelines has been on my list.

Normally stanchions are thru-bolted through the deck. On my boat, the chainplates are bolted on the outside of the hull, and I've been thinking about mounting the stanchions in the same way.



Enough so that I was thinking about looking around for machine shops to have some sort of bases custom made.

Then I went looking around online and found these:

https://www.amazon.com/keehui-Castin.../dp/B07SB4FJQM


I'm thinking that if I bolted a pair of these through the two glass-encased wooden beams that run the length of the hull (with drill-fill-drill, to keep the wood dry) I should have something that was adequately secure.

Thoughts?

[Jdege]

A closer look at the chainplates:

[Benz]

Seems OK, if you don't mind the look of them bolted outside. Mounted like that there's less chance of water getting in the holes than a deck-mount.
Cool-looking boat, btw.
Given the sort of sailing it's obviously meant for (shallow, quiet water), you might consider having no railings at all. I'm playing around with a 21-foot plywood schooner just now, and find the lack of lifelines and railings to be a non-issue. Of course, I'm not going offshore in it.

[Tortuga's Lie]

Make sure you use butyl tape as the sealant, it allows for movement while keeping things sealed. Stanchion bases are known to be a source of leaks because the slight movement on them usually breaks the bond of a typical sealant over time.

[Nicholson58]

Seems an OK plan. Yo might want to study the interior to see what this might look like in your face and relative access. Consider making threaded backing plates. These might look good if visible or at least they are it easier to tighten than individual nuts.

Source for lots of SS stuff. Just be sure it’s 316, not 305.

Marine Part Depot

[Scaramanga F25]

Meadowlarks normally have no stations. Would be nice to cross
to the Bahamas though.

[Paul Howard]

If there is wood involved, there should also b e epoxy involved.
I suggest:
Drill the holes through the wood to the interior
Make the holes slightly oversize and use a Q-tip or some such to swab the inside of the holes with epoxy (West or whatever)
Carefully run a drill the size of the bolts through, as there will likely be some epoxy and sawdust build up in the holes
Chamfer out the inside and outside of the holes slightly, so when you add the sealant there is a slightly larger ring of sealant at each end of the holes.
Use a backing plate, I prefer aluminum plate,
Use acorn nuts on the inside if it is where you will brush against it.
A pet peeve of mine is when people, usually friends who are not boaters, grab the top of a stanchion and pull themselves up from the dinghy or a low dock. They are using a lever the length of the stanchion to pry off your stanchion bases.
They have to be robust for that and if you fall against them.

[SV__Grace]

Those look designed for a bimini and the sheer (direction of force) of the mount would be vertical such as for a bimini. This means they are weak when the sheer is horizontal, which is what you need for stanchions.

I would use them but get spares for when the base breaks/cracks when pushed outwards, and use robust backing plates.

[Jdege]

Originally Posted by Scaramanga F25

Meadowlarks normally have no stations. Would be nice to cross
to the Bahamas though.

There are a few that have had them installed:

[Jdege]

Originally Posted by Paul Howard

If there is wood involved, there should also b e epoxy involved.
I suggest:
Drill the holes through the wood to the interior...

That's what I meant by "drill-fill-drill" in my original post. Drill an oversize hole, fill it with thickened epoxy, then drill a to-size hole.

[Jdege]

Originally Posted by SV__Grace

Those look designed for a bimini and the sheer (direction of force) of the mount would be vertical such as for a bimini. This means they are weak when the sheer is horizontal, which is what you need for stanchions.

I think that just the mechanics of them, bolted to the hull in two places six inches apart, would provide much better support against horizontal loads than would your typical stanchion base.

My only concern is the size of the bolts. What I've found online have 5.3mm holes for the screws. I could, of course, drill them out larger.

One advantage of this design is that everything is out where you can see it. I was taking to someone in the yard, the other day, who'd had a chainplate snap under sail. It had corroded and he hadn't noticed.

The chainplates on Curlew are kinda ugly, but they're out where I'm looking at them every day.

[psk125]

Fitting those on the outside of the boat, so that they project beyond the sheer, could lead to them getting damaged in docking situations. The weight of the boat coming in to the dock is a good bit more than the weight of someone who might fall against them. Is there a bulwark or substantial toerail on the boat that they could be installed on the inboard side of? Through-bolting them, especially with backing plates, would likely be plenty strong enough.

[Jdege]

Originally Posted by psk125

Fitting those on the outside of the boat, so that they project beyond the sheer, could lead to them getting damaged in docking situations. The weight of the boat coming in to the dock is a good bit more than the weight of someone who might fall against them. Is there a bulwark or substantial toerail on the boat that they could be installed on the inboard side of? Through-bolting them, especially with backing plates, would likely be plenty strong enough.

If she hits the dock hard, she's going to hit the leeboards first.

[b_rodwell]

Could you make it quicker, cheaper and better?

What do you think of this idea? (I wasn't the first to think of it.)

The stanchion bases are rods of fibreglass. Each rod is, say, 3-4cm dia and 30cm long. The rods are placed through holes in the deck and glassed in below and above the deck.

The stanchions are tubes of carbon fibre or stainless.

Wadiyareckin,

Brian

[Clivevon]

Stanchions & lifelines. What are they supposed to do? Keep you inboard.
What do they actually do? Keep children inboard if fitted with netting. Mark the edge of the deck for the unwary who aren't looking. Keep sails inboard while changing (if they have thin cord zigzagged along them). On racing boats they help the mobile ballast to feel more secure. Act as a trip wire around knee level because they are too low so you hit the water head first instead of feet first.

We have them , so we keep them, but they are almost always too low. If you are fitting from scratch they need to be say 30 inches above deck level.

On your wooden boat I would think about securely fitting timber toe boards along your decks - which will add a lot of extra security - then fit the stanchions to that. Also find a way of raising your pulpit height to suit.