Another fastener question

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DannyS

DannyS

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May 27, 2004
933
Beneteau 393 Bayfield, Wi
I made a binocular rack over the LONG winter and I'm wondering what might be the best faster to use to hold the rack to the fiberglass adjacent to the companionway. I'd love to bolt it in place with washers as backer plates because I believe that to be hollow but I doubt I'd get my hand inside to thread the nuts. The spot will be on the left in the photo, right above the VHF. Any advice?
 

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woodster

woodster

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Sep 15, 2009
6,244
S2 9.2a Fairhope Al
DannyS said:
I made a binocular rack over the LONG winter and I'm wondering what might be the best faster to use to hold the rack to the fiberglass adjacent to the companionway. I'd love to bolt it in place with washers as backer plates because I believe that to be hollow but I doubt I'd get my hand inside to thread the nuts. The spot will be on the left in the photo, right above the VHF. Any advice?
Click to expand

can you get a 1/4 inch board behined the surface....i am assuming you are talking about the white bulkhead left of the companionway......if so super glue the nut and washer to the board and slide them up in there and when you have them all in place just break the glue joints off and pull the boards out..........

regards

woody
 
Joe

Joe

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Jun 1, 2004
8,323
Catalina 27 Mission Bay, San Diego
The bulkhead most likely has marine plywood core, so I'd use wood screws. If you want to be sure what the corem is remove an existing screw from some other fixture, such as a light, for inspection. The first pilot hole will tell you for certain, though. I would use an adhesive or any kind.... you might want to move it later.
 
jibes138

jibes138

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Jan 27, 2008
3,092
ODay 35 Beaufort, NC
Danny,
I have one mounted in exactly the same place. It is just held up with wood or sheet metal screws. If I was to install it myself I'd look at drilling some holes and installing threaded inserts and bonding them in with epoxy thickened with fibers. Put a machine screw in the insert with release agent on it, bond it in, remove the machine screw and put up the rack. You could gel coat over the holes but the rack will not let you see it anyway. Using wood screws directly into FRP is a very bad practice and will likely crack the gelcoat around the hole. If you use that method then pre-drill the hole to the proper size and liberally countersink it to prevent cracking.
 
DannyS

DannyS

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May 27, 2004
933
Beneteau 393 Bayfield, Wi
I'm heading up to the boat tomorrow for the first time this season and I'm planning to mount it in place (just one of many small projects I have planned). I think I have access underneath near the VHF that I may be able to finesse some washers and nuts into place. We got a new pair of Nikon Ocean Pro binoculars for X-mas so I don't want this thing crashing down with a pair of $200 binos in it. I'll try the superglue method on a paintstick of I can't reach it. If all else fails, I'll bring out the the messy stuff.
Thanks for the ideas.
 
D

DJN51

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Oct 26, 2009
377
Hunter 23.5 East Chicago In
I,ve used Strap Toggles alot,If you got hollow space they work great .Big box stores carry them.Nice thing is you can remove bolt and reuse toggle.
 

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Stan Breaux

Stan Breaux

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Feb 8, 2007
141
Catalina 36 MKII Pensacola Beach, FL
Rivets might work in the area you mention.

I have used them for mounting some wood items in the interior liner of my boat. In my case, the liner is a thin fiberglass shell with air space before you reach the main hull.
 
DannyS

DannyS

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May 27, 2004
933
Beneteau 393 Bayfield, Wi
The strap toggles are great and I thought about that. The problem with those is that you have to make such a big hole to get it in place.
I came up with another idea...IF I have the access, I thought I'd make up some smallish wood blocks and temporarily superglue those to a wire or paintstick. I'll drill through the fiberglass large enough for a wood screw to pass through easily, then get everything in position and run the wood screws into the wood blocks to cinch everything down. That way I don't have to try and line up bolts and nuts.
 
jibes138

jibes138

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Jan 27, 2008
3,092
ODay 35 Beaufort, NC
I had a nice mirror in my head installed with some kind of adhesive pads. This sat for years solid as a rock. Then one day my wife decided she wanted to use it and yanked it off the wall. Mirror is now broken. So the moral of the story is adhesive pads are very strong and should hold the weights involved OK.
 
S

Steve Dion

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Dec 2, 1999
15,184
Hunter Vision-36 Rio Vista, CA.
Personally I would not mount my bino's there. When they are not in use I would prefer them in a safe, clean, dry area (probably around the chart table). If I need them they are in the cockpit with me.
 
dscribner

dscribner

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Nov 9, 2008
1,338
Pearson-O'Day 290 Portland Maine
Danny,

Let me throw something else at you. I design skylights (not rectangles) for a living. A product that we use significantly is 3M VHB tape. It's the same stuff that holds trim on the outside of your car. 4" between two smooth surfaces and you have to cut them apart. Two or three strips between the rack and the hull an there would be no worries. The use the same stuff to assemble semi trailer bodies.

Don
 
gpd955

gpd955

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Feb 22, 2006
1,164
Catalina 310 Cape May, NJ
Don't know what your binocular holder is made of but do you think a bead of 5200 would do the job? Save you from putting holes in the boat.

I've never used it for that application but know 2 people who have (1 for photo frames and a aerosol horn holder and another to reattach a shelf in the galley when it pulled away from the bulkhead).

Just a suggestion... I'm sure someone will tell us if it is not appropriate but just throwing it out there as an option.
 
Douglast

Douglast

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Jul 18, 2009
274
marine clipper 21 ft santa ana Southern Lakes,Yukon
there is industrial velcro with plenty strong enough adhesive as well
 
DannyS

DannyS

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May 27, 2004
933
Beneteau 393 Bayfield, Wi
Thanks for all the input guys. I know you're all dying to know what I did. I mistakingly thought I had access underneath where the VHF radio is in the picture, but I don't, so I went ahead and drilled pilot holes and found there was gelcoat and fiberglass but no plywood. The fiberglass was thicker than I expected it to be and I got screws to bite very well. I also took Don's advice and used VHB tape along with four screws. The nice thing about the tape was that I expected the surface to be flat (it's a boat...what was I thinking?) so the rack rocked an 1/8 to 3/16 of an inch or so, so I was able to build up the tape to fill the void rather than cinch it down to conform and possibly cracking a glue joint or the wood itself. It looks great and was a nice winter project. I'll get a photo next time I'm at the boat, I forgot my camera this time around, but this photo shows the rack hanging in my studio wall.
 

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FourPoints

FourPoints

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Apr 8, 2010
1,606
Frers 33 41426 Westport, CT
DannyS said:
this photo shows the rack hanging in my studio wall.
Click to expand

Is that one of the SeaTeak pieces that West Marine sells? I picked up a nice towel rack for the head on clearance early this spring for $8 and couldn't be happier.
 
DannyS

DannyS

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May 27, 2004
933
Beneteau 393 Bayfield, Wi
FourPoints, no, I actually made it myself out of some scrap mahogany I had laying around.
 
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