Fish plate
A steel plate that bolts across a joint to carry load through it — on palisade it joins the rails to the post, on crash barrier it splices two beams into one run.
Also called: fishplate, fish plates, palisade fish plate
A fish plate is a steel plate that bolts across a joint so the load passes through it and the two parts behave as one. The name comes from the railways, and it turns up in two places in fencing.
On palisade
The fish plate is what joins the rails to the post. It bolts through slots pre-drilled in the RSJ post using M12 fixings, and the rail then bolts to the plate. Every bay uses two — one at the top rail, one at the bottom.
Three types, and getting them wrong stops the job: standard for a straight run, corner where the fence turns a right angle, and end where the rail terminates at the final post. An end position needs two, one for each rail.
On crash barrier
Here the fish plate splices two beams together, carrying the load through the joint so a run of barrier behaves as one continuous length rather than a series of separate beams.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a fish plate on palisade fencing?
The steel plate that joins the rails to the post. It bolts through pre-drilled slots in the RSJ post with M12 fixings, and the rail bolts to it. Each bay uses two — top and bottom — and they come in standard, corner and end versions.