Aft head and handrails

While racing the Swiftsure last spring I noticed it was hard to get around down in the cabin when we were sailing hard.  The main cabin is pretty wide and if you get hit by a wave, you could potentially fall quite a ways till you fall is broken by the stove or table.  So I have seen other Centurion 42s and a couple of them have hand rails on the ceiling.  Bingo.  Thankfully we have removable ceiling panels.

I found a leak in the mounting hardware in the photo above.  Replaced all that and rebedded with butyl tape.  Man is the deck thick at that area.  

In the photo below you can see where the white panels mount to the ceiling.  Very strong attachment for the handrails.  Of course the screws holding the ceiling panels are all rusty and broke off so I had to drill them out and replace the screws with new screws and also bought square head screws (Roberson) instead of the hated slot or phillips head screws. 

Before varnishing

I screwed this to the support brace with 3 1/2" screws.  7 of them.  I would have through bolted but the braces are basically tunnels and don't have access.  I hung on the rail with all my weight and it didn't move, creak or crack.  Good enough.

We are going to put one on the other side of the cabin also.

Here's a photo with one coat of varnish on.
Even on my tip toes I can barely touch the rail.  My kid Max might hit his head as will Pete but that's what you get being too tall.

 
I also painted the raised part of the floor where the aft head sits.  2 coats of Interlux Brightsides.  I might do one more coat.

Not nearly as exciting as the stuff Jeremy is doing to his boat but these little things will make life a little easier aboard Appa.