So after the disappointing wood work results I decided to go back to the fiberglass side of thing! Another forum post talked about the "turning ball". This has been an item on my to-do list pretty much since I first looked over the boat at home and found this forum.
A year or more back a friend of mine brought out a replacement ball/shaft (sounds phallic!) kit from CD. He had a work contract in Fort Lauderdale. Anyways I thought I would see what's what.
Now to begin with the tube is installed inverted in my boat... the threaded part is facing up. So to get to the ball requires making holes through the "volcano" to get to the shaft of the ball! To complicate matters there seems to be another "shaft" across the tube above the turning ball. So the old pasrts must pass out under the boat and the new part must be inserted from under the boat! Nothing is simple or easy!
Out with measuring instruments and a few guestimates later I made the marks where I thought the shaft to be and proceeded to Dremel my way through the fiberglass. First hit was too low so I ended up creating and vertical oriented oval shape to find the shaft hole.
This done on both sides I noticed that the original turning ball shaft matches the colour of the tube... it must also be made of brass. My new replacement has a stainless shaft with a plastic tube inserted into the grooved turning ball. So a quick tap with a suitable drift punch and small hammer and Bob's your uncle it should pop right out..... Noooo, that would be way to simple and easy. Seems like I will have to drill out the shaft... a big four pound hammer applied none to delicately did not see the shaft even flinching... daylight ran out, desire ran out and I packed everything away for another try tomorrow!
A year or more back a friend of mine brought out a replacement ball/shaft (sounds phallic!) kit from CD. He had a work contract in Fort Lauderdale. Anyways I thought I would see what's what.
Now to begin with the tube is installed inverted in my boat... the threaded part is facing up. So to get to the ball requires making holes through the "volcano" to get to the shaft of the ball! To complicate matters there seems to be another "shaft" across the tube above the turning ball. So the old pasrts must pass out under the boat and the new part must be inserted from under the boat! Nothing is simple or easy!
Out with measuring instruments and a few guestimates later I made the marks where I thought the shaft to be and proceeded to Dremel my way through the fiberglass. First hit was too low so I ended up creating and vertical oriented oval shape to find the shaft hole.
This done on both sides I noticed that the original turning ball shaft matches the colour of the tube... it must also be made of brass. My new replacement has a stainless shaft with a plastic tube inserted into the grooved turning ball. So a quick tap with a suitable drift punch and small hammer and Bob's your uncle it should pop right out..... Noooo, that would be way to simple and easy. Seems like I will have to drill out the shaft... a big four pound hammer applied none to delicately did not see the shaft even flinching... daylight ran out, desire ran out and I packed everything away for another try tomorrow!
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