stanchion rebedding

anchorclanker · Jun 12, 2013

Me too. I have to do likewise so any info will be a plus. One thing I read somewhere was drilling the bolt holes two or three times oversize, filling with epoxy, and re-drilling new bolt holes through the solid glass.

Erieau · Jun 12, 2013

Alright, finally an easy one!

Here's what I did:
1 Remove bolts from stanchions (get a patient helper for this job) and pull the suckers off. Enjoy scraping all the old bedding/adhesive away. Note the rotted balsa core within the deck.
2 Bend a nail about a centimetre from the end, and chuck the long end in your drill. Stick the pointy bent part into the hole, and spin 'er up, gouging out rotted/wet balsa as you go. It's handy to hold a vacuum next to the hole to suck up the crap.
3 Once the circumference of the hole has been cleared of rot out to a centimetre, put a masking tape strip on the bottom of the hole and fill from the top with thickened epoxy using a syringe (available in your marine store next to the epoxy), thickened to mustard consistency.
4 After the epoxy kicks, redrill the bolt hole to the bolt size, then chamfer the topside of the hole with a countersink so your bedding compound can squeeze the bolt.
5 Buy "Butyl Tape" from MaineSail on this site, and follow his instructions for re-installation.

Guaranteed leak free success every time.

anchorclanker · Jun 12, 2013

Ha! I read that trick somewhere a while back, but forgot it. Thanks for sharing that one.

jibes138 · Jun 13, 2013

If the core is all rotted the method above will stop the leak but not give the structural strength to the stanchion. You would really need to remove all the core in the area and replace it, a much bigger job requiring you to figure out how to make the deck look good after glassing it all back together.

Brian S · Jun 13, 2013

Here's how MaineSail seals core penetrations to prevent core rot: http://www.pbase.com/mainecruising/sealing_the_deck

And, he questions the "bent nail" tool...

Brian

Ward H · Jun 13, 2013

I would do like Joe outlined except I wouldn't use the bent nail. I would use a larger drill bit and stop just short of the bottom of the hole.
My problem when mounting hardware like this is drilling the new holes square so the inside backing plate fits over the bolts.

Brian S · Jun 13, 2013

Ward, maybe this would help you: http://www.harborfreight.com/angle-drill-guide-95622.html

Brian

Ward H said:
I would do like Joe outlined except I wouldn't use the bent nail. I would use a larger drill bit and stop just short of the bottom of the hole.
My problem when mounting hardware like this is drilling the new holes square so the inside backing plate fits over the bolts.

Ward H · Jun 13, 2013

That's what I need. Will pick one up at lunch time. Thanks Brian.

Richard19068 · Jun 13, 2013

Mike4116 said:
Haven't had a lot of luck getting advice from this forum but here goes: I have some stanchion leaks on my 80 O'day 28 and need to rebed the bolts and stanchions. If anyone has had some experience with this particular task I would be happy to know what they may have to share. Looking forward to hearing from others on this problem.

The problem I have is accessing the nuts inside the cabin. I don't know if it is the same on a 28 but on the 31 this looks like a problem. Any one have any experience or tips for that?

Ritdog · Jun 13, 2013

I did ALL the holes on my 25 2 years ago- took off the hardware, and used an 1/8 or 3/16th allen wrench for the digger, after the nail just bent up. The allen wrench lasted for the whole job. I used thickened epoxy, slowly dribbling it into the small hole left by the bolt. Taping the backside is a must. I used 1/8th steel plate for the backing plates, very carefully drilling the holes to fit the original holes. I found that one of them had to be about 3 /64ths oversize for a little wiggle room, at least in the salon section. Installed the bolts, and halfway in we put 4000 on the threads , then pushed them all the way in.
Put a dab on the backing plate around the holes, put the plate up on the screws, then tightened them all down. Bomber.
The foredeck cleat was just bolted to the deck, so in that case I cored the deck, and used a 14" triangular piece of 3/4 " plywood epoxied to the bottom of the deck / V-berth ceiling then used the same sized piece of 1/8th sheet steel for a backer. The cleat isn't going anywhere.

It's a slow job, but we have NO leaks, and have utmost faith in the hardware now.

good luck!

jibes138 · Jun 15, 2013

Maine Sail recommends not to use sealant on the inside of the boat, leaks need to be stopped at the outside and if you allow it to leak on the inside you can see if you have a leak, otherwise water can get trapped in the joint and cause crevice corrosion and/or rotted core. Read his thread on bedding deck hardware on the compass marine web site. Great information.

Golden Road · Jul 10, 2013

Mike4116 said:
Haven't had a lot of luck getting advice from this forum but here goes: I have some stanchion leaks on my 80 O'day 28 and need to rebed the bolts and stanchions. If anyone has had some experience with this particular task I would be happy to know what they may have to share. Looking forward to hearing from others on this problem.

Everybody talks about balsa core wetness... my O'Day 23 stanchions are not mounted thru the balsa core, the core ends inboard from the stanchions. So mine leaked, and the only challenge was accessing the nuts underneath. I simply cut away some of the fiberglass liner. All of the vinyl/foam liner was peeled away form the liner flange. In doing this I also was able to add a laminate of glass to a couple of the stanchion bases which had been highly stressed. Now there is proper access to the stanchion nuts, as well as wire routing. The liner is held up by sandwiching above luan plywood strips; easy to unscrew if needed. Where the fiberglass liner was severly cut away, I simply covered with attractive mahogany ply, screwed in. Will send photos.

Richard19068 · Jul 11, 2013

Stusail said:
... Now there is proper access to the stanchion nuts, as well as wire routing. The liner is held up by sandwiching above luan plywood strips; easy to unscrew if needed. Where the fiberglass liner was severly cut away, I simply covered with attractive mahogany ply, screwed in. Will send photos.

Please do add photos. Thanks