Bent stanchion *cry

[jim wolfgram]

Do to an unfortunate bit of bumper tag, I now have a bent stanchion on my C320. The Stanchion is bent inboard about 4 inches, and is the one on starboard side at max hull width, the one just forward of the head. Try as I might, I can not get a socket on the nut holding the the stanchion to the toe rail. I really want to remove the stanchion and rebed a new one in it's place.Does anyone out there have experience with this? I have to assume that there is a technique to gain access to allow rebedding. I have no problem removing wood work to get access, but in this case, it appears that the nut might be in a completely inaccessible spot. Any suggestions or experience will be much appreciated.thanks

 

[John]

Bent stanchion

I did mine about 2 weeks ago, however it is on my Catalina 30 which could be different. I used a small socket underneath while my friend held the phillips head bolt topside. They came off wihtout a hitch. I took them home and straightened them. Then rebedded all. I removed all the lifelines and reinstalled.

 

[jim wolfgram]

I think the 320 is a bit different than the 30 *cr

The 320 Stanchion has two screws with underlying nuts, but in addition to that, the stanchion itself has a 1/2 inch bolt that penetrates the toe rail and is really tucked in there. That is the one I can't get seem to get to. Make sense

 

[John]

bent stanchion

How about a crow's foot and/or a flex driver with a proper socket?

 

[Jim Wolfgram]

interesting.

What's a crows foot, sorry to display so much ignorance. This sounds like it might be the path forward. thanks for the idea.

 

[John]

Bent stanchion

A crows foot is an open end wrench in the size to fit your application which can be attached to your socket wrench with an extension if needed or the flex extension I mentioned previously. Maybe if you go to a good tool supply store you may find what suits your specific application. Without seeing it it's difficult to help further.

 

[Jim Wolfgram]

thanks

Thanks John, I understand what you mean now by a crows foot and a flex wrench. I'm going to pick one up and give it a try. I'm not sure if it's going to work, the clearance is incredibly tight. I think this is the biggest disappointment I have in my 320, the lack of access to the backing plate of the stanchions. This is an item that you need to periodically need to re bed. If I have success I'll post with how I did it. Walking my dock, I noticed several other 320's with the same stanchion bent. Aparently I'm not the only person who's had this problem.