Thank you for this comment.
There are several easy ways to put machine screw posts into wood, without going the Weldmount route
You can simply install brass inserts, and wind in a threaded rod., You can make the threaded rod by “snapping” the head off of any long stainless screw.
To install the threaded rod, put 2 nuts on it locked to each other. Put a dab of Loctite on the threads, wind it in, and then uncrack the nuts & remove them.
Or, use an acorn nut on the end, which you remove once the locktite sets up
If you don’t have high strength locktite handy, a dab of epoxy works just fine.
The point is that there are many easy ways to make quick posts with the hardware you have on board
Ok, I’m finished now…
I totally went to town finishing up the fuel filter access issues.
As well, Hunter mounted the genset fuel pump in a very inaccessible location
I’m sure that my original setup will be identical to most 49 /50AC boats
What Hunter did was to mount all of these components on the wood wall just in front of the fuel tank.
The wood was an mdf material, and just taking the screws out once totally pulled out the wood in chips from the original hole.
What was particularly scary was that the screws were JUST short enough that they didn’t Go through the fuel tank on the other side of the wood bulkhead. I fear that when people remove theses filters to change them over, a fuel tank puncture could happen.
Hunter used incredibly strong stainless C Channel beams to hold the fuel tank in place.
This was clearly good engineering practice, as a full fuel tank in this boat weighs almost 1 ton. They could have done this cheaper, but I really appreciate how they ended up making this. By unbolting sections of the C channel, the tank could be removed if necessary.
I used the lateral section of the C channel as the mounting platform for both filters and re-installation of the pump.
In all 3 cases, I used short 2x2 aluminum angle sections which I bolted to the C channel. (Very tough to drill through)
By threading these, it gave me mounting studs to hang the filters from.
As stated before, all I need to do is unspin 2 nuts, unplug the fuel filter connectors , and pop the whole assy in a bucket.
Then, after changing the filter, and pre-charging it with fuel, you simply hang it up, and plug it in.
No fuel bleeding required whatsoever. Just turns on, and runs. And not a drop of fuel in the boat.
And here’s how the final job looked