Making New Grab Rails Out of Wood

wjejr

Active Member
Does anyone have a cross session picture of a wood grab rail for a Laser? Also, any thoughts on what type of wood was originally used? I think the ones on my first Laser (33409) were white oak or maybe ash. Cannot remember for sure, it was a long time ago.

I have plastic ones on the boat now, see pictures of broken end, but as I am stuck at home like most everyone, I decided I could make a pair.

Thanks for any help.
 

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The original grab rails were ash. Ash is light but it doesn't hold up to water intrusion that well and permanently turns black when that happens. I know our local sailing program remade a bunch of grabrails to fix the broken ones and just routered out the bottom edge to give a handle-- other than that they were pretty square and basic. They worked and are still attached to the boats we put them on about 5 years later. Whatever wood you use, I would recommend sealing the wood with epoxy prior to finish to reduce long-term maintenance.

If you're sailing recreationally, I bet the Intensity Sails website has some non-class-legal plastic grabrails for cheap if you'd rather go the zero-maintenance route.
 

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