Covering up nuts

[thomm225]

This is what worries me about the cruising life for those of us that have been on or around the water for years

It gets so slow that your world shrinks down to things like nuts being ugly.

Which probably explains why many younger folks cruise for a couple years then go on to the next thing

[belizesailor]

Originally Posted by thomm225

This is what worries me about the cruising life for those of us that have been on or around the water for years

It gets so slow that your world shrinks down to things like nuts being ugly.

Which probably explains why many younger folks cruise for a couple years then go on to the next thing

There is a joke in there, maybe several, but Im gonna resist the urge to actually post it. [emoji6]

[Mischief_Inc]

Originally Posted by um saudade

Aesthetics aside, I would never use a backing plate instead of a nut when you want watertight integrity in this application.

You can re-torque or check torque with a nut on the inside without turning the bolt. This way you don’t disturb the bedding or whatever you originally used for sealing. Turn the bolt a quarter turn and you pulled the dried out calking lose and now have a potential leak.

There are a number of ways to prevent this, I was just tired of typing. For example I assume you've seen gaskets in engines, or for mounting portholes? They seem to work as I recall. And if you like, you can use them along with epoxy bonding the fasteners, & tapping a piece of plate. Bonded fasteners tend to remain fairly well sealed.