Hi Joe:
The railings on my 23 WA are great and really nice to hold onto while fishing and moving about. Here's a link to my website with more pictures...
http://www.teamreeltime.com/TheBoats/BoatPictures/tabid/189/Default.aspx
They are really safe and I think parker may have gotten the idea from other boat manufacturers like Boston Whaler.
Here are some details on mine:
* They are Stainless Steel and from the Factory. (However, if I had them made after market I would probably be OK with Aluminum)
*They rails are 6 or 7 inches tall and are through bolted with stainless hardware.
*It was easy to mount rod holders on the rails as you see. I used a stainless muffler clamp around the base of each rod holder and a stainless eye bolt to add a 2nd point to stability so that when I troll the rod holder does not slip sideways under pressure. I can send a picture of this to you.
But, since it sounds like you already have rod holders on your gunnels, you may want to mount the rails as far in towards the cockpit as possible.
You could mock-up a set of rails with some 1.5 inch PVC to see where the best location is so that there is minimal interference with your Rods as you take them in and out of the rod holder. You could also determine the best height for the rails. 8 inches sounds about right, but if you mock it up, you can dial it in exactly so that you can easily slide the rod and reel in and out of the holder.
Overall, I really like the ones I have and depend on them a lot. We fish all the time and go out in some real slop sometimes and i never worry about safety issue with them.
Good to hear from you.
Best Regards,
Fletcher
