I recently purcahsed a Hunter 212 sailboat and upon purchasing it I knew there was a large crack in the deck through the mast step. I removed the mast step to see the full crack and start repairs when all 4 bolt heads snapped off with little to no torque. They appear to be stainless steel bolts through an aluminum mast step and I believe there is some serious galvanic corrosion between the two metals. I let it soak with pb blaster for a week, tried using 2 nuts to get it out, tried heating the step but no luck. Finally tried using a drill press to slowly drill out the bolts, but that caused the step to crack. Now not sure how to proceed from here, any advice would be appriciated!
Hunter 212 Mast Step Replacement
- Thread starter JT_Fulkerson
- Start date
I was surprised by how affordable local welding shops are. I’ve had broken stanchions and swim ladders custom-repaired for a great price. If you call around, you can likely get a new one fabricated for under $200—it’s just a metal square welded to a rectangle. For a bit more, you could even have it made entirely from stainless steel.