Thread: Advice on replacing wide timber handrail

First time post, long time lurker .

I'm trying to fix up a handrail on a deck. The existing timber is 290 x 45 permapine that's been skew nailed (!) into the top of 240 mm permapine posts. The spans vary but at the widest point they are around 2.5-3 m. Due to the poor fixing at the ends and the long spans the rails have badly bowed and cupped in the middle. See photos for more detail (as you can see, timber has weathered badly too).

If possible I'd like to replace it with a similar width handrail as it works well with the post diameter and it's handy for drinks and food .

At this stage the options are:

- use a stainless steel intermediate post (e.g. like these) in the middle of the longest spans, possibly with a wider flange at the top
- use a timber cross piece (hardwood?) recessed into top of posts, with the handrail on top and screwed down
- some kind of steel bracket or reinforcing to provide support where joins occur?

The balustrade wire is stainless steel and I would like to avoid timber intermediate posts if possible. In an ideal world something like a redgum handrail would be great but I suspect the cost would be astronomical, let alone being able to source timber in this width.

Any advice on this or ideas would be greatly appreciated.