Visit our Popular Forums

Coachbolt61 · 12-03-2011, 18:18

Here's a lesson learnt the hard way. I am learning as I go. Bought a steel ketch. Looks ok. Bit of rust but acceptable. Nice timber insides. So first things first check for rust under the panelling. Hang on a sec! No screws nuts or bolts holding the panelling on. What the builder had done was bolt/ screw old packing ply to the bulkheads and then GLUED the timber laminate over the top of everything.
Can't get to anything to check for rust.

So how do you put fittings on to the engine room bulkheads? You bolt them on. But what happens when you want to get them off and the nut starts turning on the other side under the glued on panelling? Rfflesnfflphewy! Now any new fittings going in get bolted onto a bracket that is welded C channel or similar so you can get to both sides of the nut/bolt. And all linings are removable so every couple of years you can check for rust. Rant over lesson learnt.
Smiles.
Coachbolt.

CarlF · 12-03-2011, 18:27

I'm still trying to get past the post's title

Coachbolt61 · 12-03-2011, 19:16

What DO you mean? I really do have inaccessible nuts!
Cheeky smile
Coachbolt

smithy · 12-03-2011, 19:25

I just had this experience on my little 22' - nylon lock nuts inside the retractable keel well. It would take lifting the boat, pulling the keel, and finding a deep socket for an 8mm nut, and about a 2 foot extension, and a friend to turn the screws on the inside while the outside was being held fast.

So I just drilled them out instead, will patch up with filler, and remount using L-brackets that can be removed without excessive pain.

zeehag · 12-03-2011, 19:27

rofl..is hard to imagine.....:

"What DO you mean? I really do have inaccessible nuts!
Cheeky smile"
Coachbolt

SkiprJohn · 12-03-2011, 19:33

If the bolt has enough thread on it to extend past the nut you might be able to squeeze the free end of the bolt enough to back it off enough to get it most the way off. The tool I've seen is a quarter 20 nut welded to a needle nose vice grip then hacksawed in half. It squeezes the end of the bolt enough to back off the nut. Then after you back it off far enough get a thin needle nose on the otherside of the nut to get it off the rest of the way. Another trick is to cut a slot in the end of the bolt and hold it with a flatblade screwdriver.
Sounds like the builder never wanted to do any maintenance and just closed everything up. Darn.
kind regards,

ozskipper · 12-03-2011, 19:42

Must have been a cold day

Coachbolt61 · 12-03-2011, 20:40

Quote:

Originally Posted by zeehag

rofl..is hard to imagine.....:

"What DO you mean? I really do have inaccessible nuts!
Cheeky smile"
Coachbolt

They are behind the lining. And I still have to rip it off to check for rust. The lining I mean.

**Boracay** · 13-03-2011, 00:53

Would it be possible to cut a small slot on top of the bolt head or nut and then to put spanners on them that way?

If it's just to check for rust then I'd be tempted to cut small inspection holes or slots in some sort of neat pattern and then to use a light and a mirror to have a good look.

If it's laminate then it may be possible to glue more on top so it doesn't look too bad, or to use one of those snazzy new saws so the piece comes out neatly and can be replaced.

senormechanico · 13-03-2011, 12:17

If the original builder/owner is long gone, HE'S the inaccessable nut!

zeehag · 13-03-2011, 15:58

must be a guy thing...

Kettlewell · 13-03-2011, 17:35

I used to own a small sailboat that the stern gland was almost totally inaccessible. The only way to reach it was to remove all the wiring and plumbing off the top of the engine, including removing the spark plugs so that I could jam my body in between the top of the engine and the bottom of the cockpit sole. If I had weighed ten pounds more I couldn't have gotten in there.

Bash · 13-03-2011, 17:40

Quote:

Originally Posted by Boracay

If it's laminate then it may be possible to glue more on top so it doesn't look too bad, or to use one of those snazzy new saws so the piece comes out neatly and can be replaced.

Not a bad idea, but maybe rather than gluing more laminate on top, you could insert plogs over the inspection holes. I'd be tempted to use something with a contrasting color. Maple?

might be artistic.