We finally got around to ordering our dorade guards and mast pulpits, and I could't say I'm more pleased with the results.  A big thanks to Michelle Perry on a previous thread from a couple years ago for the recommendation of Railmakers.com in Costa Mesa, California.

https://groups.google.com/forum/?hl=en&fromgroups#!searchin/tognews/railmakers%7Csort:date/tognews/l54Xpkwi_6Q/AWwJbjNkaH8J  

After a couple calls on the phone and some measurements such as the average height of mine and my wife's posterior (we're both 5'-10' tall), the camber of the deck at each specific location, the height of the cowl vents on the dorade boxes, etc., I drew up a sketch of what we required.  Within two weeks of submitting that drawing I had a big brown box waiting for me when I got home from work last week.  

The mast pulpits are based on the Westsail website's standard design called the "Bun Hugger" which has a curved top bar (Railmakers does all the aftermarket fabrication for many boats including the Westsail), and we ordered ours with 1.25" tubing all around.  They're actually very comfortable and add to the feeling of security when working at the mast.  The D-guards are just something I had to measure and calculate myself (which is always fun on a boat that never actually sits "level" in the water).   For those I went with 1" tubing, and set up a couple blocks of wood on either side and spanned a straight-edge across the two in order to measure the height difference between the inboard and outboard legs of the guards and pulpits.  Based on those measurements I used an angle gauge to come up with the dimensions in my drawing. 

Once we received our stainless, we set everything up for a test fit, and there are some adjustments that need to be bent into the "feet", but 7 degrees of deck camber got us pretty close.  I'm very pleased with the radius they bent for the cowl guards.  It's a consistent 1.5" clearance all around and allows us to unscrew the cowls and screw in the blanking caps if needed.

I already drilled out the holes in the deck, only through the top skin and core material, used a bent nail to auger out a larger diameter of inside core, and filled each hole with thickened epoxy.  It just started raining yesterday, and will continue through the weekend so now I'm working on inside electrical projects.  Once the weather clears, I'll re-drill the holes and get them mounted up permanently.

I plan to use butyl tape to seal all the deck penetrations, and there's a couple of good articles here (including the technique I used for over-drilling and epoxy-filling all the holes) at this website:
https://marinehowto.com/sealing-deck-penetrations-to-prevent-core-rot/
https://marinehowto.com/bed-it-tape/

In addition to some preliminary test-fit pictures, I've also attached the actual sketch I emailed to Railmakers.  If you're thinking about doing this based on my drawing, I highly suggest you take a few minutes and verify my numbers for your boat.  Tayana 37's are famous for "no two being exactly the same" LOL, and your results may vary significantly.

As soon as the rain clears out (California? It never rains here), I'll follow up with the final mounting and fastening.  I'm not looking forward to pulling down the headliner because ours has the thick laminated battens.  I've already sealed all the other cabin-top hardware, and taking down the headliner is a major chore in and of its self.  Grab rails, dome lights, ceiling panels, etc.  Ughhhhh.

Anyway, thanks again to a website full of great contributors who make owning and refitting a Tayana a wealth of information.


-Rich VanDusen
'77 T37 #91
svrambleon.com