Wobbling Pedestal Repair
Ron: I think that your pedestal configuration is the same as on my previous boat, a 1989 H33.5. (I am going from memory, because this is something I fixed a couple of years ago.) What I found (after ordering new screws from Edson) is that the problem was caused by an installation error at the factory. I found that the forward screws were not secured through the floor with a nut under the deck. Instead, these bolts were attached via an aluminum plate glassed into the deck. This plate was drilled and the threads tapped for these large screws. I also found that the four screws in the pedestal were of two different lengths. The screws in the back were about 1 inch longer than those in the forward position. (If your screws are all short, order two longer screws for the forward positions from Edson.) My theory is that the installer at Hunter reversed the bolts and inserted the longer bolts in the rear position and attached them to the nuts below the deck. In the forward positions he inserted the shorter screws which tightened down nicely on the plate in the deck although they barely were long enough to reach that imbedded plate. Eventually those two "too-short" screws lost their thread on the aluminum backing plate and became unstable. If you reverse the existing screws in your pedestal you will get plenty of thread into the backing plate with those longer screws. I am also pretty sure that the shorter ones will slide through the deck and into the nuts under the rear portion of the pedestal. Good luck, RB
