Backing screw hole for filling with epoxy

[duck21]

Hi!

We had a wind storm come through, the storm loosened one of the mounts for my bimini arch, so I'm getting some water in the cabin. The hardware is held in place with screws, I'd like to remove the hardware, drill out then holes, fill with epoxy, then re-drill/bed/secure the hardware.

In order to hold the epoxy in place in the drilled out hole I've typically used duct tape on the underside, filled the hole with epoxy, then let it set. Once It's set I can re-drill the hole and get the hardware bedded/mounted.

The issue is that one side is mounted in an area inaccessible with our fully removing the aft cabin headliner, which appears to be quite a chore on this boat. There are no existing access points.

I'm brainstorming ideas as to how to hold the epoxy in place while it sets and, while I have a few ideas, mostly involving trying to feather a piece of tape in and gently pulling it back up until it sticks, I'm wondering if the brain trust has a more tried and true approach as to how to do this sort of thing.

Thanks!
Doug

 

[Sandy Stone]

What is the headliner made of? If it's hard plastic, maybe you could drill a small pilot hole from the outside to get the location, then use a hole saw on the inside big enough to stick a piece of duct tape through the hole. They sell plastic buttons, for lack of a better word, that snap into place in a properly sized hole. Naturally, you would want to make very sure there are no wire runs in the way.

 

[dlochner]

In these situations I use a tiny piece of wadded up paper towel jammed in the hole.

 

[SoSound]

Unless the new installation is going to be through bolted, is it really necessary to drill the original hole all the way through to the inside? Maybe drill larger and deeper than the screw that will be used and fill that void with epoxy?

 

[Mark Maulden]

In these situations I use a tiny piece of wadded up paper towel jammed in the hole.

What Dave said..if the hole is deep enough with enough thread engagement, you could put a very small amount of 5min epoxy over the paper towel and now you have a sealed hole for longer setting epoxy…

 

[Hello Below]

We had a wind storm come through, the storm loosened one of the mounts for my bimini arch, so I'm getting some water in the cabin. The hardware is held in place with screws, I'd like to remove the hardware, drill out then holes, fill with epoxy, then re-drill/bed/secure the hardware.

I’m not familiar with the 376. You refer to your “bimini arch”. Is that the 1” tubing that normally is aftermarket and makes up a frame for the bimini or is that a beefier 1 1/2” arch tubing often fitted on larger Hunter sailboats?

 

[jssailem]

If you are going to through-bolt the hardware, how are you going to get to the underside of the deck to tighten the nut without removing the headliner?

You could pot the hole with epoxy from the surface.

• Using a thick Epoxy, secure a bolt in place of the present screws not having to go through the interior skin. Then attach the Bimini hardware to the epoxyed bolt.

 

[rgranger]

I did something similar very recently with my Bimini … but I filled the hole with JB weld and I used a pop rivet instead of screws.

So far so good.

 

[danooxnard]

I am with dlochner. Wadded up paper towel and the epoxy. I have used this several times and it has never failed.
dano

 

[duck21]

Hi all!

I ended up going with a shallow hole and a little bit of paper towel in what remained. Everything came together nice. The screws (it was not through bolted) sunk right in with butyl tape (hopefully) keeping things dry.

Thanks for the input!

 

[duck21]

My boat was produced before the official Hunter arches were added to the boats (my boat is a '96).

I just have 1" tubing with a bracket on each side of the boat held in place by two screws. We had a pretty good blow during a storm last year, it was enough to shift things and break the seal of the bedding (looked like 4200 -- and, not even proper bedding, but just a dab around the hole for each screw).

Doug

I’m not familiar with the 376. You refer to your “bimini arch”. Is that the 1” tubing that normally is aftermarket and makes up a frame for the bimini or is that a beefier 1 1/2” arch tubing often fitted on larger Hunter sailboats?

d the

 

[High Current]

Two words: cocktail umbrella.

In all seriousness I’ve never tried. But it seems like it might work.

 

[dLj]

Two words: cocktail umbrella.

In all seriousness I’ve never tried. But it seems like it might work.

The concept is great - the application, well, not so much... Of course this may come from trying it after drinking that cocktail, your milage may vary...

dj

 

[Project_Mayhem]

Tape works very well to hold in epoxy. It also minimizes sanding. With a bit of practice you wont need to sand at all. I've also use butyl in a pinch