Adding a gate in the stern pulpit makes for easy in, easy out.
Issue 130: Jan/Feb 2020
We love our 40-year-old Catalina 27, but it has the old-style stern pulpit with no easy access to the swim ladder. And I am getting too old to climb over a 30-inch rail! We’ve looked with envy at the newer boats that feature walk-through access to the ladder.
After modifying the stern pulpit, Alan can lower the top rail to make accessing the ladder much easier.
I sought to make an opening, but I didn’t want to weaken the pulpit, especially because we have stern perch seats at the corners. After a brainstorming session with my engineer neighbor, John, I came up with a quick and relatively easy solution by cutting a section of the pulpit’s top rail and turning it into a gate that I could lower when we wanted to use the ladder.
I completed this project with materials from a local hardware store: four 1-3⁄8-inch aluminum rail ends (for chain-link fences); two 1-inch PVC coupling pieces (1-inch interior diameter); one 1⁄2 x 1-1⁄2-inch stainless steel bolt and nyloc lock nut; one 1⁄2 x 2-inch clevis pin; one hitch pin and clip; and four 1⁄4 x 2-inch stainless steel bolts and lock nuts.
The pulpit of our Catalina is made from 1-inch stainless steel tubing, with top and bottom rails. After cutting the top rail twice, both times 2 inches inside of the stanchions, I was relieved to see that this didn’t seem to weaken the pulpit’s lateral strength, and I felt better about moving forward. (Before making the second cut, I taped the other side so that it wouldn’t drop into the water.)
Because I couldn’t find 1-inch-diameter rail ends at the hardware store, I cut PVC coupling pieces in half and used them as sleeves inside the rail ends. To remove the remaining slop, I applied marine sealant.
Before the modification, the solid stern pulpit meant climbing over the 30-inch-tall top
rail to use the stern ladder.
Next, I assembled the hinges out of the rail ends. The holes in the ears at the rail ends (for a hinge pin or bolt) were a shade small, so I drilled them out to 1⁄2-inch. I assembled the fixed hinge, using the stainless steel bolt and nyloc lock nut. The second hinge, which would essentially be the gate latch, I assembled using the removeable hitch pin and clip.
By inserting one of the assembled hinges in one end of the rail, holding it in place, and measuring the overlap on the other end, I determined that I would need to cut 1-¾ inches off each end of the rail to make room for the hinges. I started with a hacksaw (which will work), but a friend at the marina lent me an electric hacksaw that took all the work out of cutting the railing. I was careful to cut at a right angle.
Drilling holes in the stainless steel railing was a challenge, but I succeeded by using new cobalt bits, slow speed, and high pressure. I first drilled a 5⁄32-inch pilot hole in one side of each rail end and sleeve. Then, I slid one end of the fixed hinge over the pulpit rail end, turning it until it lined up so that when the hinge dropped the gate, the gate would fall where I wanted it to, just off the back edge of the transom.
Before drilling the piece of the rail that would be the gate and attaching it to the other end of the fixed hinge, I held it in place, rotating it so that its curve was on a horizontal plane, as it was before I cut it. I finished by enlarging the holes with a ¼-inch bit and assembling the pieces.
To easily open the gate, all I had to do was remove the clip from the hitch pin on the second hinge and lower the gate.
A morning’s work and $20 didn’t get us a new boat, but now we can swim without climbing over the top rail!
Another Option — Good Old Boat Editors
It’s reasonable to source hardware and fittings outside of a chandlery to avoid the “marine markup,” but not all substitutions may be fully up to the task. While Alan’s cost-saving approach may provide years of service, the possible risks he doesn’t mention include corrosion from dissimilar metals and the fence fitting’s bored-out ears that may not withstand the lateral loads of someone falling against his gate. If employing a similar solution, it may make sense to bite the bullet and use rail fittings that are purpose-built for this kind of modification. Companies that specialize in stainless steel fittings for biminis, towers, and railings, such as TACO and Suncor Stainless, are good sources for this gear.
Alan Culpepper retired to Lake Hartwell in 2016 after serving as dean and professor at the McAfee School of Theology at Mercer University in Atlanta, Georgia, for 20 years. He built a Glen-L 19 several years ago, learned to sail, and he and his wife, Jacque, now enjoy sailing their 1979 Catalina 27 out of Big Water Marina.
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