removing deck hardware

[eric]

It's time to remove the grab rails on the cabin roof of my '78 Hunter 30, but I'm not sure how they're fastened. Will I have to cut the fiberglass headliner out to get at the inside ends of bolts, or are the grab rails somehow fastened to the deck with tapping screws? Has anybody done this?

 

[John]

No cutting

Mine ( 78H30 also )are just screwed in from the top. In doing some other work, I found that alon the edge of the cbin top where the hanrails are fastened the coring that you screw in to is plywood. I replaced and bedded in 3M 4000, which is supposedly UV resistant.I had to re-remove about 6 months later for the other project, and took out all the screws, the 4000 held incredibly. The rail wouldn't budge. I had to slice all the 4000 with a razor to get the rail back off. seems like good stuff.

 

[Steve O.]

grab rails

Drill out the little teak plugs in the screw holes, but don't drill too deep 'cuz there's screws under them. Then remove the screws.

 

[chris]

use a forstener bit

When drilling out the teak plugs use a 3/8 forstener bit in your drill. (a forstener bit drills flat bottom holes in wood) I just did mine last month and it worked great. The bit removes the plugs without damaging the screw heads.chris

 

[patrick]

Removing teak plugs

is easy. Do not drill them out. Just grind the head off of a small sheet rock screw and chuck that into the drill. You can just drive the screw into the plug until it hits the screw head under and splits out the wood. Usually leaves a clean hole too. You worry warts can use a very small pilot drill first but don't drill into the screw head underneath.

 

[Josh Peskin]

check for water damage to core

I was having problems with leaks inside the boat and just recently tackled the task of taking the hardware off and rebedding it. Once you get the stuff off, tap around the holes to see if you have any core damage. You'll hear the pitch change from higher to lower when you move from good wood to damaged wood. If you have had any water damage in there, you might want to step back and think about it for a moment. Some people or more and lass concerned about the integrity of the strength of the boat with some water in the coring, but at the very least, you will have to think about how to strengthen what you screw into. I had some damage, and I drilled the holes bigger and glassed in 1/2 inch dowels where the coring was-so that I can screw into the dowels (I wasn't terribly concerned with the structural integrity of the boat because of the minimal water damage). Other people have tried to squirt epoxy in any gaps, and other people have cut out entire squares and replaced them with good wood and then re-glassed. Even if your wood is good, you will want to think a bit about how to strengthen the screws purchase when you put it back in, and how to prevent future water damage--handrails are constantly torqued and will eventually allow water to creep in. You might want to use a syringe to fill each hole with penetrating epoxy numerous times, to guarantee no water penetrates in the future, and then be doubly safe by putting a bit of silicone around the screw right when you screw it back in for good. Good luck