How to fix this stanchion?

[Menlim3]

Sunkiss 45 year 1985. I can't find where the screws protrude below the deck. Its on the aft starboard side opposite the navigation table's electric panel. Ideas?

[Menlim3]

[UNCIVILIZED]

Fix it meaning what/how? What's the problem with it? And can you drill the holes for the fasteners oversized & then epoxy bond them in place since you don't have access to their undersides? That, or they may be tapped into some aluminum plate which is glassed into the deck laminated.
What you do depends on how they're attached, & whether or not epoxy would make a big mess if you tried the above.

[Menlim3]

Thanks for reply. Since the photo was taken the stanchion has been "pulled" off. Screw heads are broken and screws stuck somewhere in the fiberglass. I was searching for the backing plate or nuts below but cannot find them. I thought someone could tell me how to access that area. This will ne my first time fixing such a thing. I need to drill out the old before repairing with new resins and fiberglass and screws. Any help would be great.

[keepondancin]

For a crew extractor that might work well for you, go to Rockler Tool Company. There is a screw extractor that looks like a split pin. It is hollow, with teeth cut on one end. You size it to go around the screw. The teeth bore an over size hole, and at the same time the hollow split pin goes over the screw and can back it out. It works very well on screws broken off in wood, should work in fg. You will need to drill and fill the hole anyway to put a screw back in.

[Menlim3]

Originally Posted by keepondancin

For a crew extractor that might work well for you, go to Rockler Tool Company. There is a screw extractor that looks like a split pin. It is hollow, with teeth cut on one end. You size it to go around the screw. The teeth bore an over size hole, and at the same time the hollow split pin goes over the screw and can back it out. It works very well on screws broken off in wood, should work in fg. You will need to drill and fill the hole anyway to put a screw back in.

So you suggest to work it all out from the top down?

[Soton]

If you have some stubs of screw showing gripping with a pair of mole grips and try winding out is worth a try. Drilling out will be a nightmare.

[roverhi]

Unless the stanchion's fasteners were tapped into some sort of metal backing plate, there will be nuts on the end of those bolts. The stanchions could have been installed prior to the deck being attached to the hull and be totally hidden by the liner. Would try and turn them out vice grips as a first thing. If there is a bit of the fastener stub proud of the deck that you can't back out with vice grips, you could cut a slot in the fastener and try getting it to turn with an impact driver. I like the small 12v powered tools but a manual impact driver could also work. If doesn't work may have to do surgery on the liner of get at the nuts.

[Suijin]

If your boat has a liner, I would seriously consider cutting an access hole to get to the bolts and backing plate for the simple reason that you'll never get them adequately tight when you reinstall without access. What size hole(s) you drill will be a function of where the liner is in relation to the bolts and plate, and you can get snap-in plastic plugs to cover the hole(s) when you're done. You might even need to put a 4" Beckson plate in if you need a hole large enough to get your hand and tools into.

If no liner in that area, it's possible that that stanchion is directly above or very close to a bulkhead or other structure that is tabbed into the deck, in which case the bolts are covered over with fiberglass. It's possible in that case to leave them in and with some luck the new bolts can be tightened down into them, but be prepared to get out the multi-tool to get access to them if that does not work.

[UNCIVILIZED]

Assuming that they have to be drilled out, or pulled via an extractor, & there's no access to any nuts, etc. Are you guys opposed to bonding the new ones in place for some reason? Either with neat epoxy, or with bog. And if so, why?

[sailormed]

I replaced a stanchion base last week on my Hunter 38.
Step 1 remove toilet cabinet
Step 2 cut access in the liner
Step 3 unscrew and replace stanchion base
Step 4 try to reglue panel cut out of liner
Step 5 put toilet cabinet back

As usual picture is rotated, left this time

[JPA Cate]

On our Insatiable 1, we did bond some s/s bolts to the transom, which stood proud on the outside, and allowed the wind vane supports to be lifted off.

The method that UNCIVILIZED is suggesting, although perhaps unfamiliar to you, works well. You size the length of the bolts so that you can use acorn nuts on the stanchion bases, taking into account the thickness of the backing plate, and the result is a tidy installation.

Ann

[UNCIVILIZED]

EDIT: While it's not an ideal fix, one other option is to cut out a section of the deck, including the core. And then bond in an oversized G-10 plate, along with epoxy bonding the fasteners in place. Which you can even recess the G-10, & then scarf new skins overtop of it. So that between the 3 methods of attachment it can be stronger than anything around it, including the other stanchions. We've done genoa tracks on big racing boats this way without issue. And they see far greater loads than stanchions.

[keepondancin]

"So you suggest to work it all out from the top down?"
That might be the way to do it. It looks like it is possible the the strength for the stanchion is how it is clamped to the toe rail, and screws could possibly just be self tappers into the deck structure, to just help hold the stations vertical. If the hull deck connection is an inward flange on the hull, with the deck applied over it, the design thought could have been that there is enough "meat" to hold screws. I certainly wouldn't just start cutting ceiling liners as exploratory surgery, I would investigate from the top a bit, as the stanchion deck plate would cover some of what you may need to do. If you decide to go the nut and bolt method, you certainly need to make sure it is solid from deck surface to backing plate, otherwise you could crush the deck structure. It also very well could be a metal backing plate installed during construction, and drilled and tapped when the stanchion was installed.

[Menlim3]

Thanks. Is there anyway to find out the answers rgdg the original design configuration?