headless screw

[Captain Anthony]

AHOY, I need to service all of my life line stanchions. All of the life line stanchions are held taught by what appears to be a "headless screw" what is the name of the tool used to remove this headless screw. ( no wise cracks saying a headless screwdriver please) Are these headless screws a standard size? Thank you Mates.

[Manateeman]

Hi. Your profile states you are a Merchant Marine Deck Officer. No doubt you will get a bit of a ribbing from the Licensed Chief Engineer on this inquiry. Kind of an inside joke...sorry. OK, When you look down on the top, is it hexagonal shaped?
Can you only see one side of the fastening? Are you sure it’s a screw not a split pin? Can you please post a picture or a drawing.
Where is it exactly. Thanks.
Happy trails to you
Mark, another Merchant manatee

[Captain Anthony]

It's round, has a round hole in the top, looks like it's really calendrical shape. either way, I'm willing to purchase both tools, if you can tell me what they are. I'm not near the vessel, I'm still working for a living, at least for a while longer. BTW, the Licensed Chief Engineer and Admiral always pulls my chain.

[sanibel sailor]

Guess in dark of Allen head, aka hex socket. Removed with "hex key" or "allen wrench". On an older Tartan, likely SAE rather than metric.

[Captain Anthony]

I will give it a try John, Thank you. Hey, I'm in the process now of looking to relocate to the Cape Coral/Burnt Store Marina area, is the sailing as good as they say it is?

[Manateeman]

Hi. I’m guessing the same thing. First, are you trying to remove the stancheon from the deck fitting. The stancheon is the upright pipe and the life lines go through them. If so, there is often a set screw which is threaded into the base and prevents you from lifting the stancheon out of the socket of the deck base.
They sometimes get frozen and are difficult to remove. They could be SAE, American or metric. First clean out the hexagon shaped hole really well. Dental picks. Then see if metric or SAE, fit better. Soak the socket with PBBlaster.
Get a very small pin drift or a nail and tap tap tap inside the hole. Heat just this area. You need one of the mini torches like chefs use. Don’t heat the whole deck fitting or you’ll start a leak where it’s bolted to the hull. Try unscrewing the set screw. Not the time to force anything. You do not want to round off the insides.
Heat, PB, soak, tap tap. No gorilla arm. If you round off the inside it makes for a lot of work. Good luck.
Someone who has a Tartan might know the Allen tool size but it’s small.
Happy trails to you.
Mark, a PB&J loving manatee

[Captain Anthony]

Thank you Mark, I'm going to give it a try

[Lodesman]

They're called "set screws" - typically allen head, but older ones might be slotted.

[HopCar]

I wonder if it could be a poprivit? I don’t trust those set screws to hold the stantion. I would usually drill through the set screw hole and the stantion, thread them both and put a machine screw in. It occurs to me it would have been easier to just rivet the stantion into the base. Round with a round hole sounds like a pop rivet to me.

[Nicholson58]

Originally Posted by HopCar

I wonder if it could be a poprivit? I don’t trust those set screws to hold the stantion. I would usually drill through the set screw hole and the stantion, thread them both and put a machine screw in. It occurs to me it would have been easier to just rivet the stantion into the base. Round with a round hole sounds like a pop rivet to me.

If there is no hex, you are probably right. SS Pop rivet. Drill them out.

[Lodesman]

Originally Posted by HopCar

Round with a round hole sounds like a pop rivet to me.

Pop rivets have heads, and he said it was "headless".

I agree with the earlier comment, probably SAE, assuming 1/4" so likely need a 1/8" allen driver, maybe 3/32" - get a wrench-set (https://www.homedepot.com/p/Klein-To...-100647968-_-N) or somesuch in SAE and metric - not expensive and you'll need them later.

[sanibel sailor]

Originally Posted by Captain Anthony

I will give it a try John, Thank you. Hey, I'm in the process now of looking to relocate to the Cape Coral/Burnt Store Marina area, is the sailing as good as they say it is?

Yes. You will love your centerboard if you don't already, it is shallow in most places, especially Pine Island Sound and much of the Caloosahatchee River. Burnt Store puts you in Charlotte Harbor which is deeper but more currents to contend with. Best place to keep a boat in Ft Myers/Cape Coral is at a private dock in Siesta Isles, just north of Ft Myers Beach. Short hop to Gulf, no river traffic, far enough from the beach to avoid the worst of the road traffic. I just vacated my slip and moved north to Yankeetown. If you are interested, I can inquire on your behalf with my former landlord.

[Steve Bean]

If it is actually an allen screw, be sure the hex key fits perfectly snug. A key that's a bit small will round out the socket; you don't want that.

[ranger58sb]

And replace with Torx, if you feel like going after an improvement for the future (and if you can find stainless Torx).

-Chris

[jamhass]

By the way, there are MANY very nice bit sets that contain good selections of odd-shaped heads, phillips, hex, torx, etc., including the special "tamper-proof" varieties. Often indispensable. Google, Amazon, Ebay good places to start.