C30 Stanchion Rebedding

jmish

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Sep 8, 2015
12
Catalina 30 Mk II San Francisco
Hi all,

I need to rebed some stanchions on my 1988 C30. Thanks to so many previous postings here on the forum, I have a pretty good idea how to go about this. I do have one question though. The attached image is looking up on the starboard interior in the area between the nav station and the hull. You can see the stanchion bolt is bunched up against that area of the hull. What's behind there? I'd like to dremel it out to provide better access to the nut if possible.

Jeff
 

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Jan 22, 2008
8,050
Beneteau 323 Annapolis MD
Maybe better to cut the bolt shorter? How about vise grips from staight on from below?
 
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jmish

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Sep 8, 2015
12
Catalina 30 Mk II San Francisco
Even if the bolt were flush I still couldn't fit a socket around the nut.
 
Feb 26, 2004
22,759
Catalina 34 224 Maple Bay, BC, Canada
If the nut is frozen in place because of the glass, then just back out the screw, use butyl tape above and reinsert the bolt from above. No need to cut anything.
 

jmish

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Sep 8, 2015
12
Catalina 30 Mk II San Francisco
Don't think it's stuck, just would prefer better access to it.
 
Apr 2, 2011
185
Catalina 27 Niceville, FL
That's just the inner liner. You can dremel it out to access the nut. No problem.
 

dj2210

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Feb 4, 2012
337
Catalina 30 Watts Bar
I've done some of mine already and they are a pain. Since the bolt is welded into the stanchion take the removable screws off first and as you turn the large nut the stanchion can move up til it's free.I used an open end wrench. I also had to remove the teak and cut the lip to access some nuts.
 

jmish

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Sep 8, 2015
12
Catalina 30 Mk II San Francisco
Thanks for the tip Doug. This is exactly the kind of fun I've been expecting this project to be :)
 

BillyK

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Jan 24, 2010
502
Catalina 310 Ocean City, NJ
i rebeded all of my stanchions last season. you want to talk about swearing like a sailor!?!? the one behind the nav station and the galley took me an hour to remove each and and hour to put back in each. i'm praying the butyl holds up for years so i never have to do them again.
I found that by having a small box wrench i was able to hold the nut while the screw was turned. the issue is that the butyl will spin when you turn the screw making it so that you really should be turning the nut which is the best way to go. it might take 30 minutes to get a single nut tight with 1/8 turns, but take your time and do it right. I had to walk away from it a few times to make sure that my frustration didn't make me take shortcuts.
 

kito

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Sep 13, 2012
2,011
1979 Hunter Cherubini 30 Clemmons
After almost 2 years of restoring my boat, I found a vise grip to be one of my best friends. Like Stu said, why not clamp a vise grip on the nut?. The vise grip will wedge against the wall and not turn. You then can remove the bolt from the top....or am I missing something? I did this when installing my new strut.
 

jmish

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Sep 8, 2015
12
Catalina 30 Mk II San Francisco
Kito:
I'm pretty sure I can get it out, haven't tried yet. But, I wanted to know what's behind the finished area in case a last resort is needed.

Billy:
The stanchion near the nav station is the leaking one. Good to know It gets easier from there, or I might just give up after those two!
 

BillyK

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Jan 24, 2010
502
Catalina 310 Ocean City, NJ
After almost 2 years of restoring my boat, I found a vise grip to be one of my best friends.
i used a needle nose vice grip to remove a couple of the bolts exactly like you described.. the issue for me was that the vice was longer than my box wrench. So the box wrench was better.

I will say that whoever designed the stanchion system these boats use for the aft double stanchions should be forced to personally come out and help whenever someone has to rebed.
 

dj2210

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Feb 4, 2012
337
Catalina 30 Watts Bar
Here is picture of the base of the stanchion on my C30. There is no turning of the 1/2 bolt from above as it is welded to the stanchion. But you can turn the nut below deck and raise the stanchion as you loosen the nut. This particular stanchion the weld tacks broke so the threaded part spun in the stanchion. It was a bear getting it off. I then had it welded before install.
 

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jmish

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Sep 8, 2015
12
Catalina 30 Mk II San Francisco
Yeah, I'm planning on not removing my lifelines. We'll see how that goes....
 
Nov 15, 2014
135
Catalina 30T 5830 Green Bay
Jmish - I'm up against the same project this spring. Was going to do it last spring but time, time, time. I'm going to cut some access holes in the fiberglass lip behind the trim above the nav station. I looked at trying to get a long wrench in from the end, but no way. Remember also that if this stanchion is the same as on my '90 C30, the two bolts anchoring the brace part of the stanchion cannot be accessed w/o cutting another area of the fiberglass behind the trim.

In the other stanchions, if our boats are the same, there won't be any turning of the stanchions to loosen the main nut. The stanchion is on top of the gunwale, and the base plates drops from there to the deck.

The other stanchion that will be a pain in the hinder is the one behind the head, but at least it's accessible. Last spring I just broke my right forearm so I could get a good angle up there when I replaced my holding take vent hose. That worked so well I just kept the forearm broken for better articulation all around. Hand is a little floppy but what the heck. Good thing I'm a lefty!

I was considering removing the whole deck section from the hull so it'd be easy to get to all this stuff, but that seemed a little aggressive!