Life Lines Getting Pinched

[Jeff]

Once again I didn't get the life lines taken off the boat before the first hard freeze. It seems moisture gets trapped in some of my stanchions and when the cold weather hits the freezing water heaves some kind of plastic fill material inside them jamming the life line in place. I was lucky only one line this year. My port side stanchions all had to be removed. Has anyone addressed this? I'm guessing drain holes or perhaps some kind of sealant could help. Ahh winter projects!!

 

[woodster]

fwiw from me ........i would think that drain holes would be the best option ......also i am wondering if the stantions will burst when full of water in a hard freeze...and i know you get hard freezes up there as i was there in 1984 55 stories up on the bell building when it was wind chill 50 degres below zero in january of that year burrrrrrrrrrrr

 

[Brian L.20665]

Yup, you need to drill weep holes close to the base of each stanchion to allow moisture to drain out. 1/8" holes will do it, then make sure the holes stay clear each winter. If the damage has already occurred, tough to repair. This was a problem on our 1995 H37.5--the delrin rods inside the stanchions were forced up by ice during the winter months and then jammed the lifelines. Our fix was to replace all the stanchions and lifelines (and drill weep holes in the new stanchions as they were installed). That was years ago and new stanchions were still available from Hunter at the time. We didn't have the problem anymore after "the fix."