Fixing boat railing

[mojokoko]

My boat railing on the starboard side is moslty loose. The railing connects to the boat some two sides and is also connected twice veriticaly between the two sides. The two vertical sides
are lose and there is no way for me to screw them back on. Would it be a wise idea for me to have them welded on and then use gel coat paint to hide the weld?

[Hit-n-Miss]

Can you post a couple of pics of it?

[mojokoko]

Basically, it's that railing but on the other side that the issue.

[silverking]

What exactly is loose, MJ? Is it the vertical supports or the base mounts that screw into the covering boards? If the latter, can you get underneath to replace the screws with bolts and lock nuts?

Don't quite understand what you mean about welding and then painting over the joints with gel coat. On that model of Scout the rail should be all-welded
construction, not pieced together.

If you can't gain access underneath, the solution will probably be to remove the screws, fill the holes and re-drill for a solid bite.

Scoop Sea had a similar issue a couple weeks ago. Search for his thread, as there were a lot of other suggestions there as well.

[mojokoko]

The vertical supports are completely loose.. Those screws I'm sure have fallen down in the boat
somewhere never to be seen. There is no access underneath the boat to that specific area. If it was welded
then somehow it lost it's weld.

[DEMON]

If you cant see any screw holes on the top of the base mounts, then the base mounts probably have a bolt welded to the bottom of the base and nut is installed on the underside of the liner before the liner is attached to the hull. In any case, call Scout and I'm sure they'll help you! Scout: 2531 Hwy 78 West - Summerville, SC 29483 Ph: 843-821-0068 (from their web site).

[silverking]

Big Ben Marine in Perry is the local Scout dealer. They might have encountered this problem, too. Worth a call, anyway.

[mojokoko]

Thanks for all the help guys. I called and talked to Dale at Big Bend Marine in Perry, and he basically told me, the only way to get it back in
place would be to cut into the boat to get access and then screwed in a bracket or some sort. So I'm not going to pay someone several hundred dollars
which I'm sure is that it would be just to do that. It's just a cosmetic issue and isn't exactly preventing the boat from working.

[silverking]

Send me a PM with all the pertinent info: model, year, where purchased and your contact info.

I'm testing the new Scout XS 251 with the president of the company before the end of the month and I'll ask him about a solution. Might as well go straight to the top, right? They're very particular about quality control and customer service.