Seacock problems!

[Rodd]

Went to clean bonding wires on a one inch Perko bronze seacock, and wound up turning the bolt with the nut that is coming up through the seacock base! Do you think the bolt comes up from the bottom of the boat, or from below the glassed in backing pads Pearson has installed under each seacock? If it's through from the bottom, I can tap the bolt with a hammer and try to knock it out the bottom-- my fear is if it was glassed in under the backing plate, but inside the hull, then I don't want to hammer it down, or I'll put a new hole in the hull !! Presently I can turn the bolt itself but cant tighten the nut or loosen the nut. What I was thinking is to hold the top of the bolt thread with a vise grip and try to tighten the nut back down to hold the seacock down tightly again. (there is a second bolt coming up through the Seacock that is 180 degrees from the problem one. The seacock is in rock solid and cannot be moved or rotated at all.

What I need to know is is how were these seacocks installed at the factory. Were these bolts put in from the bottom, with heads counter sunk and filled, or were they put under the built up pads Pearson used which they mounted the seacock on?


Thanks!

Rodd

 

[Rob19574]

hi Rod -- it sounds like you should disassemble the entire Thru-hull and start over. The bonding may be old. Do some searches on this forum and you will find Mainsail's detailed post about thru-hulls. Hopefully your boat is out of the water...

- Rob

 

[Maine Sail]

Rodd,

Most boats of that vintage were through bolted. You can sand off the paint to either side of the through hull and you should find the covered bolt heads. Do not grab the bolt with vise grips if you can avoid it as it will bugger the threads so that when you finally do get the nut loose it will now be trapped on the bolt. Best bet is to dig out the filler from the phillips or slot head screw then have someone hold the screw driver and use an impact driver on the nut.. If the bolt is long enough you can back two nuts against each other then hold them with a wrench and go to work on the bottom nut that is stuck..

 

[Rodd]

hi Maine-
Happy Easter-- and thanks for the response. when you say use an impact driver on the nut do you mean hold the nut with a wrench while someone uses the impact driver on the slotted head from underneath the boat? I've never used an impact driver on a nut, only on the head of a screw or bolt. Assuming I get the bolt and nut free, would I have to drop the bolt back out the bottom and then rebed it before re-inserting it? If that's the case, I could cut the nut off, drop the bolt back down, remove the bolt and replace it with a new one. Sorry I couldn't quite follow you on this one! Standing by.

 

[Rodd]

Update-
I sanded away the gelcoat around the thru hull where the stud would have been counter sunk-- found nothing! so I will assume the bolt came up from under the fiberglass backing plate inside the hull.
next question is now that I sanded away the gelcoat, what do i need to do to make a proper repair to the bottom? can I just cover that area with west system epoxy thickened so as not to drip down, or should I use some fiberglass (mat or roving?) on the area?
This project was a real pain!! but that's the price we pay for boating!

Rodd