Welding a Pushpit Support Plate

[Dennis.G]

One of my supporting plates on pushpit, where plate is screwed on top of toe rail, has cracked. Need to get this welded back together. This is on port side pushpit, which is separate from starboard side due to swim step opening.

Issue I have is that the forward most mounting is very difficult to access, and looks like I would need to cut up some interior woodwork to access, which I would like to avoid. I can loosen up the other supports and get the cracked base maybe a couple on inches above the wood toe rail.

If I get the plate raised a couple of inches above the toe rail, could a welder repair this plate? What ya think I have to do?

Thanks

[dandkg]

I would say yes and since this is on going problem have welder add gussets to help support and strenghten pole...

[Dennis.G]

Gussets - good idea. Thanks

[dandkg]

Yep had to do same thing to ours

[roverhi]

It will be way cheaper to take the pushpit to the welder than have them come down to the boat to fix it. Cost per hour for our local welder is double at the boat vice the in shop price. Wish the builders wouldn't do it but they love to put fasteners in places where it's nearly impossible to get at the backside. Be sure those aren't plain screws holding down the pushpit rather than machine screws with nuts and washers. Very easy removal if it's only screwed down.

Repairs in place are difficult. They'll have to grind the edge where it's broken to get rid of corrosion or the weld won't stick. A delicate operation with only inches of space to work with. Also not a bad idea to pull the pushpit, rout out the core, if any, around the fastener, fill with thickened epoxy, redrill the puka and rebed with polyurethane, polysulfide or butyl sealant. Might save you a bunch of headaches down the line.

[Randyonr3]

Its an easy fix, but it might be hard to find a welder with a shop at the dock.
I've built a number of rails where the unit was spotted together on the boat and then finished on the dock.
If it were mine to fix, I'd cut the plate off the bottom with a small, fine grinder, and put a new plate on it..
Find a shop that builds rails.. They wiil fix it.. there is a shop in San Carlos if you are that far north..

[Dennis.G]

Actually I find that the difficult screw are just screwed into the toe rail without nuts underneath like the rest of the supports. Still difficult to remove, but I may bite the bullet and remove it. I want to make sure this gets repaired right. Anyway, I will see if I can get it all off of the boat tomorrow.

By the way, I am in San Carlos right now. Some good welders around, so that is not the worry.

Thanks for advice.

[bsurvey]

this is a saftey item. the entire pad should be replaced

[Cadence]

Originally Posted by Dennis.G

One of my supporting plates on pushpit, where plate is screwed on top of toe rail, has cracked. Need to get this welded back together. This is on port side pushpit, which is separate from starboard side due to swim step opening.

Issue I have is that the forward most mounting is very difficult to access, and looks like I would need to cut up some interior woodwork to access, which I would like to avoid. I can loosen up the other supports and get the cracked base maybe a couple on inches above the wood toe rail.

If I get the plate raised a couple of inches above the toe rail, could a welder repair this plate? What ya think I have to do?

Thanks

Vet the welder. There are welders then there are welders. Someone said add gussets. might be worth looking to add them to stations that hadn't gone yet?

[Jim Cate]

Seems a slightly odd sort of fracture to me, considering that it is part of a pushpit. Kinda odd to get enough flexing to fatigue like that. I wonder if you have seen the bottom of the base yet? I wouldn't be surprised to see that corrosion (stress cycle plus oxygen deprivation) might have played a part in the failure. If so, replacement of the whole base would be in order, as well as better bedding when you put it back in place.

Please let us know what you find!

Jim

[Madehn]

if it were me and i did not want to take the whole thing off- cut off the vertical rail 6 inches above the deck with an angle grinder- then have a new plate made welded to a 6 inch length of stainless pipe the same size as existing rail- use the old one as a pattern- while it is off make sure the toerail is good- then splice it together with a stainless connector only take out the allen screws that normally secure them and drill through both sides of the fitting and the pipe using the old allen screwholes as a start. Through bolt through the fitting and the pipe and secure with an acorn nut- it will be strong enough to hold anything you might need- it will look a bit different than the other side but not bad-- cost should be about 30 bucks.