Handholes

[Marc]

I have aquired a 2 x 10 x 6' piece of phillipine mahogany that I have begun to drill out and cut 6" long hadholes into tomorrow I will take it to the bandsaw and cut it in half and then cut it into thids so that I will end up with four 6' long 9 hole hand hole that I am planning on mouting along the gunnels? edge of my boat I bought 1/4 20 x 3 1/2" stainless bolts to mount the handholes to my vessell.  do you guys think these are strong enough or overkill?  Thanks, Marc

[s/v Faith]

Sounds very nice.

  How thick will the finished handholds be?  Mine are around an 1"... if I made new ones I would want then more like 1.5"

Are you going to varnish them>?

[Marc]

When done, they will be a hair over 3/4" thick. and yes I'm going to varnish them with helmsmans.  When done, I'll post some photos.  But it might be a week or so.  Marc

[Captain Smollett]

Hey, Marc, good job.  I've thought of making new hand holds, but alas, the old ones will have to do for a while.

Before reattaching mine, I did decide to cut out 'pads' to mount them on, just to raise the point of attachment slightly (to prevent water sitting there more than necessary).

Just yesterday I cut out the pads, made by laying up 6 layers of cloth in epoxy.  You can see some of the pads here in the foreground:

[Marc]

I know that it has been along time but I have completed my hand holes and they are on the boat

[JWalker]

Wow nice job Marc!

those look great.

[Lost Farmboy]

Very nice, they complement the rest of the (visible) part of the boat quite well.

[Marc]

Thanks guys,  here is another pic.  Thats me on deck getting ready to rig.

[Oldrig]

Marc,

What an innovative approach! Grog to you for a nice job.

You've got handholds all around, and places to attach lines--as well as unlimited scuppers. In terms of looks, it certainly beats those aluminum toe rails.

--Joe