screws on brass rubrail

[Guest]

Hello all, hope all are well,
Noticed a few screws missing on my brass rubrail. As I am in the process of checking them all, also noticed some are turning and not "biting" into the teak. Thinking of replacing the many that need replacing with slightly bigger copper screws.Before I take a trip to the hardware store, I figured I would ask if Anyone know a good size replacement?

Thanks,
Charlie

[Steve Laume]

A sloppy screw is not really a big problem. If they are truely too short to start with you could replace them with longer ones of the same size. Size being #6 or #8 or whatever. Just going to longer screws will not greatly improve your situation. If the shorter screws stripped their holes you will only get the bit of a few threads of the extra length. What you need is a box of tooth pics or wooden matches a length of small diamiter dowl will also work and some waterproof glue. Epoxy may be the best choice here because it will soak into the soft wood and help protect it. Poke the wood in the screw holes with some glue and cut or snap off the extra. Let it set up and drill the right size holes for your screws and you are starting out fresh again. This is a carpenters trick and in thinking about it I suppose you could ditch the wood and just use thickened epoxy on a boat. Either way it will work better than just putting in loger or bigger screws. Good luck, Steve.

[Al Levesque]

I am guessing that the rubrail is really bronze as might be the screws. If the screws are brass, consider the possibility that they shrunk from corrosion. If that is the case, the same size bronze screw with help from the hole filling methods described above might cure the problem.

[Ed Haley]

Yes, the screws are bronze as is the rubrail. After many years of exposure, the threads of the screws are no longer sharp. In addition, about halfway along the shaft of some of the screws, there is a lot of saltwater/oxidation corrosion that has worn away about half of the shaft diameter. When trying to remove these screws, they may break off leaving some of the shaft embedded in the wood. Drilling the remaining part out may enlargen the hole.

Fill the hole with a combination of thickened epoxy and wood splints and redrill when set.

[Bill Cochrane]

Had a few loose and missing screws. Pulled all the fasteners and replaced. A number had been changed for longer by the PO, some others were not gripping. Used original size when they would grip, then tried longer, when that wouldn't hold used teak splinters and glue. Didn't bother to fill the hole and redrill, just used a few splinters until the screw had enough grip. The screws by the way are not cheap, they are silicon bronze oval head at about 16.00/hundred and you need somewhere around 125 to do the whole boat on a 36. I also used crosspoint (RP) rather than the original slotted for ease in driving.

If you go the epoxy route, make sure the epoxy has kicked before you put in the new screw. There are about four screws that the PO apparently used epoxy on, and they won't turn. One was epoxied to the rubrail but came out of the wood when I removed the rail, managed to pound that one out. To change the others I'd have to drill out.