44 DS Stanchion Re-bolting

[Rick486]

Well, I removed my shrink wrap yesterday to find that one of my stanchions had been dislodged over the winter. It seems the two bolts holding the stanchion plate to the toe rail actually failed in tension due to the bending moment applied to the stanchion by the wrap. I'll take a pic today and post later. Anyway, I'm writing to ask if anyone has had the experience of unbolting or rebolting the stanchions on a boat of comparable vintage and size as mine, 44 DS built around 2006 or so. At least the 44 ACs, 41's, and perhaps some others may be similar. In particular, are the bolts fastened with nuts below? Or are they drilled and tapped into the backing plate? Obviously the repair is much simpler if they are drilled and tapped, eliminating the need to get at the nuts from below. I've searched the forums with no luck and emailed our go to guy at Hunter, Eddie Breeden. Eddie responded promptly as always after searching his resources and sent me the attachment. But this is a later boat and my toe rail is different, with raised mounting points for the stanchions and support elements welded to the stanchion base and bolted to the deck inboard. I'm hoping mine are drilled and tapped. I also understand that it may be that the nuts remain adhered to the backing plate when the remaining section of the bolt is removed, allowing the new bolt to be inserted. I don't really like that solution however as I'd be concerned that it would be impossible to get reasonable torque on the bolt before the nuts lose their grip on the backing plate.
What say you?
Thanks
Rick

picture dded below.

 

[quadrille38]

I can't really help you with the repair but I would suggest that next fall when you have the boat covered have the cover come down inside the stanchions. Steeper slope will shed snow better and avoid the weight loading on the stanchions.

Guy here makes the best canvas winter covers. They use the boom as a ridge pole and come down inside the stanchions. For my 38 cost was about $2,200 but they last 10 to 12 years.

 

[sailor420]

Rick,
From the picture they look identical to our 2000 H420 which are drilled and tapped.

 

[Rick486]

Rick,
From the picture they look identical to our 2000 H420 which are drilled and tapped.

Thanks Sailor. I took a look up in the anchor locker and the pulpit stanchions are drilled and tapped. So we're hoping........

 

[Rick486]

The repair has been completed, quite easily actually. And both the support bolts and the stanchion bolts the broken ones) were drilled and tapped into structure in the deck. No nuts were evident. FYI anyone interested.