Skeg fasteners

  • Thread starter James C Whitworth
  • Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
J

James C Whitworth

Skeg fasteners I see three bolts that appear to be fastening my skeg to my hull. They are rusted badly. One is completely gone. Are those bolts structural? Should I be concerned? Jim Whitworth jimcwhit@hotmail.com
 
J

John

Kind of..

There should be 5 ( I had 7 from PO adding 2 ). With all the bolts out, I couldn't budge the skeg at all. I had to saw it off. The 5200 it is set in does the trick. That being said, keep the screws. I believe the original screws were galvanized, and so many have replaced them with stainless because they rusted. I don't know if that's from outside water, or bilge water sloshing back there ( or just moist air ). Mine are stainless. Unless you know that you have hit something, or that the skeg is seriously water logged, you can just take out your screws, and replace with stainless. You may need to put some type of liner in the hole to get a new grip.
 
J

James Whitworth

John is Correct

John, thank you for your help. You are correct. On second inspection, I found five bolts. Three were deteriorated so badly as to be not visible. Can uou tell me what type of bolts those are? i.e. carriage bolts? Size?
 
I

iansan19175

.
Jun 4, 2004
2
- - -
Skegg bolts

The skeg holds the bottom of the rudder in place. Without it, the rudder comes loose and wallers a large hole in the bottom around the rudder post which permits huge quantities of water to enter the boat. The only solution at that point is to have everybody sit at the bow while you're being towed in. The repair cost, in 1996 dollars, was $3,000.00. Because the skeg must be removed to remove the rudder, I doubt the manufactures used a strong adhesive equal to "5200". That's why ours fell off in a 25 knot wind. Therefore, it is important to replace the bolts immediately. I used 5/16" stainless "hanger bolts". The wood screw end goes into the skeg, which is wood wrapped in fibreglass, and the machine threaded end is exposed inside. That way, you can put some torgue on the bolts and be sure you are pulling the skeg to the hull with your efforts. Just abandon the existing bolts and put the hanger bolts in beside them. The years have not been good to the wood around the existing bolts and can't be trusted. Iansan
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Top Bottom