Removing a mid-ship cleat after 25 years (Hunter 40.5)

[smokey73]

Got a call into Butch at the yard. Waiting for a reply. Hopefully Butch will be able to tell me any tricks. I know the bolts had never been removed so I assume he had some sort of trick since so many came out without damage.

By the way. If push comes to shove, I believe the store here has the chocks with the rollers for sale as a complete unit. With the carriage bolt arrangement (which I can confirm they are) you can't just cut off the round head and drive it downward. There will still be the square portion in the "square" hole of the toe rail so it won't go through the round hole in the hull to deck joint. You almost have to take it out driving it from the bottom but maybe with the head off you can get something into the corroded joint to break the bond.

I'll let you know what Butch says when he calls me back.

Smokey

 

[Rich Stidger]

Got a call into Butch at the yard. Waiting for a reply. Hopefully Butch will be able to tell me any tricks. I know the bolts had never been removed so I assume he had some sort of trick since so many came out without damage.

I'll let you know what Butch says when he calls me back.

Smokey

Thanks Dan. A personal experience could be very helpful. Regarding the SBO store chocks and spare rollers, you are correct. However I don't need complete chocks because mine are in good condition except for the broken rollers. And I would still have to remove the existing chocks in order to install new ones. Although they do have spare rollers, it is not clear to me that they will fit the original chocks or just the new ones in the store, or both. Since I have a lathe it was easy to simply machine four new ones.
Now after my chocks are removed, I'm not sure how difficult it will be to remove the pin that holds the rollers. That could be another struggle- Do you know of any source for C4?

 

[jviss]

That's not a cleat, it's chock.

 

[Rich Stidger]

That's not a cleat, it's chock.

Absolutely correct. I mis-spoke. A senior moment. I'm old.

 

[Rick D]

Thanks Dan. A personal experience could be very helpful. Regarding the SBO store chocks and spare rollers, you are correct. However I don't need complete chocks because mine are in good condition except for the broken rollers. And I would still have to remove the existing chocks in order to install new ones. Although they do have spare rollers, it is not clear to me that they will fit the original chocks or just the new ones in the store, or both. Since I have a lathe it was easy to simply machine four new ones.
Now after my chocks are removed, I'm not sure how difficult it will be to remove the pin that holds the rollers. That could be another struggle- Do you know of any source for C4?

Did you make them out of plastic or aluminum? Yea, getting that pin out could be an exercise too! I had decided installing new rollers wasn't near the top of the priority list. Good luck!

 

[Rich Stidger]

Did you make them out of plastic or aluminum? Yea, getting that pin out could be an exercise too! I had decided installing new rollers wasn't near the top of the priority list. Good luck!

I bought a 12" Delrin Acetal rod that was 0.75" diameter (exactly the original size). Chucked it in my lathe and cut off 4 pieces. Then center drilled them in the lathe for the pin size.
It's not a huge priority, but I didn't figure on the difficulty of removing the chocks. I'm hoping the pin can be removed easier than the chocks!

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B087YY1T2F

 

[smokey73]

Butch said he didn't take them off himself but he believed they used a combination oh heat and probably Kana AeroKroil.

Not from Burch, but you might try the Kroil, heat, followed by some freeze spray just on the bolt to shoco it followed by a sharp rap with the hammer.

 

[Rich Stidger]

Thanks Dan. Thanks to everyone here I have a list of possible solutions without resorting to C4.

 

[Rich Stidger]

UPDATE:
After reading all of the suggestions from everyone (thank you very much), I went to my boat to put on the winter cover. I also took all the tools and supplies to try the solutions to remove the bolts and then the mid-ship chocks. The short result was no joy.

I soaked with Kroil and then tried numerous times to use a large C-clamp with the top of the clamp setting on a 1/2" steel plate bridge over the chock with 2x4's underneath to protect the deck. The bottom of the clamp was on the end of the bolt with the nut flush. This did not result in any delectable movement but one of the contributing factors was that the bottom of the clamp was quickly bearing on both the bolt head and the bottom of the toerail keeping the majority of the force on the toe rail and not on the bolt. Putting a spacer between the bolt head and the clamp didn't work because it kept slipping out.
I was reluctant to use any heat, so I didn't try that. I also did not try cutting the bolt head simply for lack of time. My primary goal was to get the boat covered for the winter- thats a 2 person job and my time slot was the only one that worked for my helping friend.
So when I return to the boat- probably next spring - I am going to try a couple new solutions.

First, I am going to machine on my lathe a steel cylinder with a hole that goes over the bolt so it won't slip off. The cylinder will be long enough so that the C-clamp does not reach the underside of the toe rail until the bolt is mostly out. After continuing to soak with Kroil, I will attempt to press the bolt upward and out of the chock.
Second, If pressing the bolt out doesn't work, I will grind off the head of the bolt and then hope I can lift or pry off the chock. Then I can drill out the bolt. Perhaps I can even loosen the bolt with a impact driver onto the square section of the carriage bolt and then press it out. Worse case I will drill it out completely.

The only encouraging news is that the pins in the chock, where the broken missing rollers were, are loose and will spin easily by finger. So once I actually get these chocks out, replacing the rollers should be a snap.

Sorry I don't have pictures of my attempt, but I was pressed for time with much to get done in a 2 day window.

 

[RoyS]

Rich, don't quit now. You can ask the yard to place a shrink wrap door over the chock and you can play with it all Winter. Ideas will pop up and you will want to try them. Keep us informed.

 

[Rich Stidger]

Rich, don't quit now. You can ask the yard to place a shrink wrap door over the chock and you can play with it all Winter. Ideas will pop up and you will want to try them. Keep us informed.

I'm not quitting. But I am 150mi from the boat so I can't just pop down to try something.

 

[dLj]

I'm not quitting. But I am 150mi from the boat so I can't just pop down to try something.

A number of us are in a similar distance constraint. I'm about 250 miles away. So I'll go for a couple days typically. I have gone down for a day and come back the next but that's only when I have something specific and urgent. Sure don't like doing that. Prefer to go for longer stretches of time...

dj

 

[LloydB]

Just as an experiment could you set your lathe up to make one more roller out of that rod and then carefully cut it in half along the axis just to see if you could glue it back together around the chock axel. This suggestion is probably a result of a broken favorite coffee cup and too many amazing fantastic glue commercials or COVID.