Filling Old Screw Holes in Boom?

[bluewater]

So we are doing some upgrading to the the rig. One project involves replacing a small cheek block on the boom.

The question of the day is how to fill the old 1/4" holes that will be left behind by the old block.

The boom is a stout, aluminum offshore boom by Selden.

Thoughts?

Thanks in advance for your ideas.

[doug86]

I use aluminum Pop rivets, and fill the rivet with a sealant. If the mast is white, use some white sealant.

[Mark Johnson]

It is good to fill the hole. First clean out any caulk, corrosion, or antiseize, out of the holes. A gun cleaners wire brush, (22 size), is good for this. Wipe out the hole with Iso alcohol. Then mix up some WEST epoxy with a dolop of white pigment... add enough silica filler to make it hang there, and put it in one of their syringes. Now squirt it around the edges, going around & around to the middle, and make a mound.

After a while it will be "green". This is when it is not liquid, harder than clay, but not totally hard yet. (30 min to 1 hr ??) At this point you take a single edge razorblade, & slice off the part that stands high. Try not to concave it.

The white epoxy "dots", will eventually turn yellow from UVs. If you want to touch them up to prevent this, you can avoid the sanding by using paint with an artist brush, right after you slice off the excess, for a chemical bond. (I'd use hardware store, spray can, white appliance epoxy paint.)

Get the stuff together, then it is a 1 hour job...

Mark

[Patrick_DeepPlaya]

We used Belzona 1111 which we got from the yard who was doing our work. To buy an entire container is probably too expensive to consider, but maybe your local yard or metal shop will sell you some. BAsicaly it's a two part system that has aluminum filler.

Belzona Product PDF

I have pics of Dawn doing the work and the Belzona container too.

The other option is to weld them all closed, but I didn't want to pay for that and didn't have the skill to do it myself.

-p

[s/v Jedi]

I link to use those epoxy-sticks for this. Cut off a slice, knead it, use it like a pencil-eraser to fill the holes, smooth it out with a wet finger, let cure, sand, paint.

ciao!
Nick.

[Ziggy]

You might be able to find aluminum screws with a matching thread.

[Hudson Force]

I've done this by cleaning the holes and adding a swipe of Marine Tex with a putty knife,- sand to finish and paint.

[gwp]

Good gosh. All that sounds like lot of effort that will be difficult, or impossible, to hide completely. Put a short ss screw with anti-sieze and move on. It looks nice and functional.

[capngeo]

I weld them, grind, fair and paint when I really want them gone... but usually I just leave the holes alone