Those of you who have a V32 (and probably other Hunters) should know what I mean-The deck area in many places is hollow, not cored or backed by anything. I have a problem with two such areas right now: The area just below the big front window and the area that the bulls-eye fairleads are fastened to. The deck is 1/8-3/16" thick in these places and hardware is simply fastened with a sheet metal screw, which has pulled out. What I've done is to drill out the hole slightly and then push in a tapered dowell slathered in Epoxy. After curing, I cut the dowel flush to the surface and then re-drilled the pilot hole for the screws and then screwed the fitting back in place. I used life-caulk under the bulls-eye and on the screw threads. I just did it today and then went sailing (without the sheet running through the fairlead) I think the screw for the cover snap will hold, but I am concerned about the fairlead. it can get stressed at times (hence my question last week). If it fails again, I'm thinking to drill out larger, maybe 3/8", make up some thickned epoxy with silica and them use a dowell of uniform thickness to go down to meet the backside of the interior liner and glue it in place with the thick epoxy. It will be bonded against the interior liner and the underside & edge of the deck itself. Since it's hollow, I can't remove a chunk of the core , fill with epoxy and and then drill a new hole, so the above is what I've come up with. Anybody faced this issue before? What did you do?
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What about thru bolting?
Tom: I think that a better alternative would be to drill out a large hole (say 1/2") and fill with epoxy. Then drill the hole thru to the interior and put an acorn nut on the other side of the bolt. This will prevent water from getting into the core and provide the most secure application for any fitting.
Tom: I think that a better alternative would be to drill out a large hole (say 1/2") and fill with epoxy. Then drill the hole thru to the interior and put an acorn nut on the other side of the bolt. This will prevent water from getting into the core and provide the most secure application for any fitting.
There's only one catch...
Hi Steve- The epoxy may work. I could see making a big glob of thick epoxy (like peanut butter) and trying to get it to stay under the hole. However, at least one hole is near horiz., making it tougher to get the epoxy to stay. On top of that, there is is NO core in these areas, so there's nothing to contain (restrain) the epoxy. I may try the experiment... Through bolting sounds good, but is really unacceptable from too many points of view...
Hi Steve- The epoxy may work. I could see making a big glob of thick epoxy (like peanut butter) and trying to get it to stay under the hole. However, at least one hole is near horiz., making it tougher to get the epoxy to stay. On top of that, there is is NO core in these areas, so there's nothing to contain (restrain) the epoxy. I may try the experiment... Through bolting sounds good, but is really unacceptable from too many points of view...
Syringe?
Tom: You can get a syringe and inject it into the area. You may have found a void, but the entire area is not empty. The decks are cored and normally you will find something solid in there. When they construct these areas they use pieces of coring material and they have spaces between them. If you drill the hole thru the top portion only and fill with the epoxy then you can drill the hole thru to the interior. We have our exterior hand rail attached in this method and it looks fine (of course that is my opinion). On the interior we have medium fender washers and acorn nuts. It looks like the boat came from the factory that way.
Tom: You can get a syringe and inject it into the area. You may have found a void, but the entire area is not empty. The decks are cored and normally you will find something solid in there. When they construct these areas they use pieces of coring material and they have spaces between them. If you drill the hole thru the top portion only and fill with the epoxy then you can drill the hole thru to the interior. We have our exterior hand rail attached in this method and it looks fine (of course that is my opinion). On the interior we have medium fender washers and acorn nuts. It looks like the boat came from the factory that way.
So what about the inside hand rails
Steve, Did you remove the inside hand rails. I have never liked the method where the inside rails are bolted thru to the outside rails because it becomes a major job to re-bed them. But it is suggested that removing inside hand rails is a no-no for safety reasons(even though my children cannot reach them). Just curious!
Steve, Did you remove the inside hand rails. I have never liked the method where the inside rails are bolted thru to the outside rails because it becomes a major job to re-bed them. But it is suggested that removing inside hand rails is a no-no for safety reasons(even though my children cannot reach them). Just curious!
I checked on my repair yesterday...
My dowel & epoxy seems to be working well on both screws. Of course, the snap for the cover is not under much load, even when I remove the cover, so it's no surprise. The bulls-eye seems pretty secure, but I will only be able to tell when I sail with the sheet going through it when I have the car in the aftmost position. This puts the most stress on the bulle-eye. Otherwise, I can just rig the sheet outside of the bulls-eye (as others suggested and let it go at that... Cheers!
My dowel & epoxy seems to be working well on both screws. Of course, the snap for the cover is not under much load, even when I remove the cover, so it's no surprise. The bulls-eye seems pretty secure, but I will only be able to tell when I sail with the sheet going through it when I have the car in the aftmost position. This puts the most stress on the bulle-eye. Otherwise, I can just rig the sheet outside of the bulls-eye (as others suggested and let it go at that... Cheers!
Not back to back.
Brett: Our boat is a 1985 Hunter 31'. The rails are not back to back but offset.
Brett: Our boat is a 1985 Hunter 31'. The rails are not back to back but offset.
Not back to back.
Brett: Our boat is a 1985 Hunter 31'. The rails are not back to back but offset.
Brett: Our boat is a 1985 Hunter 31'. The rails are not back to back but offset.
Are the inside rails thru bolted
If so, do the bolts show on you deck? If they are not thru bolted do you feel comfortable with their strength? Or, did Hunter place a steel plate in the deck that these rails screw into? That would have been very nice, but I would assume they would have done the same for the outside rails. We have a 1984 and the rails are back to back. Sorry, Steve I am probably asking too many questions.
If so, do the bolts show on you deck? If they are not thru bolted do you feel comfortable with their strength? Or, did Hunter place a steel plate in the deck that these rails screw into? That would have been very nice, but I would assume they would have done the same for the outside rails. We have a 1984 and the rails are back to back. Sorry, Steve I am probably asking too many questions.
Hell, they've been there for xx years!
Brett: Hell they have been there for 15 + years. I would not expect any problems unless the core gets wet. I am sure that they are just screws. What boat do you have?
Brett: Hell they have been there for 15 + years. I would not expect any problems unless the core gets wet. I am sure that they are just screws. What boat do you have?
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