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Try a gasket
Jim, D & R Marine will sell you gasket material that is already predrilled and will go below the stanchion. It is still a tough install however as someone must be below to help tighten or visa versa....the gasket material is some type of plyable rubber that seals very well. Patrick
Jim, D & R Marine will sell you gasket material that is already predrilled and will go below the stanchion. It is still a tough install however as someone must be below to help tighten or visa versa....the gasket material is some type of plyable rubber that seals very well. Patrick
Jim, this is an extremely common problem with
the 272's. The problem is that your stanchion has leaked enough that the core is soft under the stanchion. Mainly because they thought that the rubber gasket would work. So, normal rebedding just won't cut it. You can rebed but if there is any stress that makes the deck deflect,it will break the seal and your stanchion will leak again. The problem is that the deck is giving every time the life line is stressed and with the core being soft the stanchion will leak in almost any rain. I would remove the stanchion, Over size the holes to say 3/8 " then with a bent drill bit, remove the core about 3/8 to 1/2" inside the hole. Tape the interior portion of the hole so that a repair can be made. Then fill the hole with Epoxy!. Polyester just isn't what to use here. You need the bond of epoxy here. Once the epoxy has set and cured, you can redrill a new hole and contersink the topside so that that you get a good seal. This will not only cure the deck deflection, it will also seal the stanchion so that it doesn't leak. Use 3M 4200 or 4000 as a bedding material. The gasket seal doesn't work! It is what caused the problem. You need to correct the deflection and seal it with bedding material to correct the problem. Don't use the gaskets! hope something here helped.. r.w.landau
the 272's. The problem is that your stanchion has leaked enough that the core is soft under the stanchion. Mainly because they thought that the rubber gasket would work. So, normal rebedding just won't cut it. You can rebed but if there is any stress that makes the deck deflect,it will break the seal and your stanchion will leak again. The problem is that the deck is giving every time the life line is stressed and with the core being soft the stanchion will leak in almost any rain. I would remove the stanchion, Over size the holes to say 3/8 " then with a bent drill bit, remove the core about 3/8 to 1/2" inside the hole. Tape the interior portion of the hole so that a repair can be made. Then fill the hole with Epoxy!. Polyester just isn't what to use here. You need the bond of epoxy here. Once the epoxy has set and cured, you can redrill a new hole and contersink the topside so that that you get a good seal. This will not only cure the deck deflection, it will also seal the stanchion so that it doesn't leak. Use 3M 4200 or 4000 as a bedding material. The gasket seal doesn't work! It is what caused the problem. You need to correct the deflection and seal it with bedding material to correct the problem. Don't use the gaskets! hope something here helped.. r.w.landau
Stanchion mounting
Jim - I agree with what RW & Gene said, except that I'd drill 1/2" or 5/8" holes down thru the deck & core. You don't need to drill thru the inner part of the deck laminate. Dig the old core back as far as you reasonably can, say 1/4-1/2" all around, cover the bottom hole with duct tape & fill the void with a epoxy mix thickened to the consistancy of peanut butter. If you can, pour in a little unthickened epoxy first, as the balsa will tend to soak it up and it will create a better bond & seal, then work the thickened epoxy into the void untill the hole is filled. When the epoxy has cured, redrill thru the epoxy plug with the correct size bitt for your fasteners. You might want to have a hard look at the backing plate under the stanchion too. On my 27 O'Day the deck core didn't extend right to the edge, so the outboard bolts went thru solid glass while the inboard ones went thru a cored area. Under the deck, there was a wood backing, abt. 3/4" thick X 4" X 6". This had gotten spongy too, so I replaced it with a piece of 1/2" marine ply, sealed with epoxy: clean up the underside of the deck with some coarse sandpaper, then acetone. Butter on a heavy layer of thickened epoxy on the backing block to bed it to the underside of the deck, & use the stanchion bolts to hold it 'till the epoxy cures. Don't overtighten & squeeze all the epoxy out. Put a garbage bag underneath to catch any drips etc. Use stainless fender washers (oversize flat washers) and nylock nuts. Straightforward job, but a pain as access to the underside of the stanchion can be limited by the cabin liner etc.
Jim - I agree with what RW & Gene said, except that I'd drill 1/2" or 5/8" holes down thru the deck & core. You don't need to drill thru the inner part of the deck laminate. Dig the old core back as far as you reasonably can, say 1/4-1/2" all around, cover the bottom hole with duct tape & fill the void with a epoxy mix thickened to the consistancy of peanut butter. If you can, pour in a little unthickened epoxy first, as the balsa will tend to soak it up and it will create a better bond & seal, then work the thickened epoxy into the void untill the hole is filled. When the epoxy has cured, redrill thru the epoxy plug with the correct size bitt for your fasteners. You might want to have a hard look at the backing plate under the stanchion too. On my 27 O'Day the deck core didn't extend right to the edge, so the outboard bolts went thru solid glass while the inboard ones went thru a cored area. Under the deck, there was a wood backing, abt. 3/4" thick X 4" X 6". This had gotten spongy too, so I replaced it with a piece of 1/2" marine ply, sealed with epoxy: clean up the underside of the deck with some coarse sandpaper, then acetone. Butter on a heavy layer of thickened epoxy on the backing block to bed it to the underside of the deck, & use the stanchion bolts to hold it 'till the epoxy cures. Don't overtighten & squeeze all the epoxy out. Put a garbage bag underneath to catch any drips etc. Use stainless fender washers (oversize flat washers) and nylock nuts. Straightforward job, but a pain as access to the underside of the stanchion can be limited by the cabin liner etc.
leaky stanchion advice
It appears that there is only fiberglass under the stanchions - solid through - no balsa core. These are the stanchions directly above the main salon area. I don't see a core and when probing it appears to be solid. Are you sure there is a core here?
It appears that there is only fiberglass under the stanchions - solid through - no balsa core. These are the stanchions directly above the main salon area. I don't see a core and when probing it appears to be solid. Are you sure there is a core here?
Jim, someone may have already fixed yours .
Did they seal it correctly or did they use the gasket? My guess is if it is solid, that it must have been repaired already. The failure is in the rebedding. Counter sink the hole slightly in the fiberglass or in the stantion. Insert the bolts into the stantion. Apply bedding compound around the bolts below the stantion so that it is about 1/4" bead under the stantion but around the bolt. Carefully install the stantion trying to get all the bolts lined up. Once the stantion is inplace, without allowing the bolts to turn (from this point on) install the nuts. From here there are two directions. Direction #1. you need this done. Tighten the nuts on the bolts with out allowing the bolts to turn. The countersinking of the parts will allow a donut of bedding material to protect the seal. Direction #2. You have good weather and a couple days to play with it with out moving it. Install a shim on all four sides that will prevent the part from being in complete contact with the deck. The bedding material must contact both surfaces. After the bedding material cures, slide the shims out and finish tightening the nuts on the bolts without allowing the bolts to turn. This will not only be a seal that has adheasion but will also acts an "o" ring to prevent water penetration. The next question is, are you sure that it is the stanchion that is leaking and not a port of handrail above? Leaks are tough, good luck. r.w.landau
Did they seal it correctly or did they use the gasket? My guess is if it is solid, that it must have been repaired already. The failure is in the rebedding. Counter sink the hole slightly in the fiberglass or in the stantion. Insert the bolts into the stantion. Apply bedding compound around the bolts below the stantion so that it is about 1/4" bead under the stantion but around the bolt. Carefully install the stantion trying to get all the bolts lined up. Once the stantion is inplace, without allowing the bolts to turn (from this point on) install the nuts. From here there are two directions. Direction #1. you need this done. Tighten the nuts on the bolts with out allowing the bolts to turn. The countersinking of the parts will allow a donut of bedding material to protect the seal. Direction #2. You have good weather and a couple days to play with it with out moving it. Install a shim on all four sides that will prevent the part from being in complete contact with the deck. The bedding material must contact both surfaces. After the bedding material cures, slide the shims out and finish tightening the nuts on the bolts without allowing the bolts to turn. This will not only be a seal that has adheasion but will also acts an "o" ring to prevent water penetration. The next question is, are you sure that it is the stanchion that is leaking and not a port of handrail above? Leaks are tough, good luck. r.w.landau
Second thought is that are you sure you
have probed the core? The deck is about 1/4"thick with either balsa or a plywood core of about 1/2" then the interior skin of about 1/8th to 1/4". If you probe it and it is not soft or wet and you see no cracks on the deck around the stancion, the stancion may not be leaking. It may be draining from another point. The headliner is attached to the deck surface after each have been layed up. Just a note: Some people thinkthat since it leaks on the inside, that this where where the sealant/bedding material/caulking belongs. It is not. If you seal from the inside you trap the water in the core and advance soft spots. If you look to bu a boat with caulking on the inside, keep looking... r.w.landau
have probed the core? The deck is about 1/4"thick with either balsa or a plywood core of about 1/2" then the interior skin of about 1/8th to 1/4". If you probe it and it is not soft or wet and you see no cracks on the deck around the stancion, the stancion may not be leaking. It may be draining from another point. The headliner is attached to the deck surface after each have been layed up. Just a note: Some people thinkthat since it leaks on the inside, that this where where the sealant/bedding material/caulking belongs. It is not. If you seal from the inside you trap the water in the core and advance soft spots. If you look to bu a boat with caulking on the inside, keep looking... r.w.landau
Stanchions
Jim - My boat is a '78 O'Day 27 as I noted, and the deck core extends to within abt. 3" of the outer edge, so of the 4 bolts securing the stanchion base, 2 run thru the cored part and 2 run thru solid glass. The 272 is a newer model and the cored area may be different. Possibly O'Day recognized the potential problem and designed a slightly wider edge of solid laminate to allow the stanchion & toe rail fastenings to be made on solid rather than cored laminate. I've only done the mod. I described on the aftermost stanchions, flanking the cockpit, as they got a lot of flexing when boarding the boat from a dingy. Access to the underside was relatively good, compared to the ones further foreward. I plan to do the others in time, too. The cored area of my deck was abt. 3/4" thick in total: a 3/16" top & bottom laminate sandwiching a 3/8" balsa core. The outer, solid part of the deck was abt. 3/8" thick. Those dimensions are approximate as I did the job a couple of years ago & am relying on memory, but it wasn't much thicker than that. I know that the cabin roof was exactly 3/4" thick as I used a 4" hole saw to install a solar vent & kept the cut piece for reference. RW - I can drill up to a 3/4" dia. hole and still stay under the footprint of the stanchion base (just barely !! )
Jim - My boat is a '78 O'Day 27 as I noted, and the deck core extends to within abt. 3" of the outer edge, so of the 4 bolts securing the stanchion base, 2 run thru the cored part and 2 run thru solid glass. The 272 is a newer model and the cored area may be different. Possibly O'Day recognized the potential problem and designed a slightly wider edge of solid laminate to allow the stanchion & toe rail fastenings to be made on solid rather than cored laminate. I've only done the mod. I described on the aftermost stanchions, flanking the cockpit, as they got a lot of flexing when boarding the boat from a dingy. Access to the underside was relatively good, compared to the ones further foreward. I plan to do the others in time, too. The cored area of my deck was abt. 3/4" thick in total: a 3/16" top & bottom laminate sandwiching a 3/8" balsa core. The outer, solid part of the deck was abt. 3/8" thick. Those dimensions are approximate as I did the job a couple of years ago & am relying on memory, but it wasn't much thicker than that. I know that the cabin roof was exactly 3/4" thick as I used a 4" hole saw to install a solar vent & kept the cut piece for reference. RW - I can drill up to a 3/4" dia. hole and still stay under the footprint of the stanchion base (just barely !! )
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