stanchion thru bolts

[John]

Trying to disassemble several loose stanchions, I was not encouraged by the fact that the horizontal stainless fastener has welded itself to the aluminum base.Before I get aggressive, has anyone got any tips about removing the bases; and whether a vertical fastener comes up through the deck into the base. Obviously, access to any vertical bolts from inside the boat is really...stinky.

 

[Charlie Gruetzner - BeneteauOwners.net]

Question

John, I need a little more information to try and help you. First, I am assuming what you are talking about is the stanchion sitting on top of the toerail. Is the stainless steel and aluminum actually together because of possible corrosion or is it the result of the bedding material such as 5200 or something similiar that is anchoring it. Also, it is more then likely the bolts from the stanchion go through the deck from the top down with nuts on the bottom. It really is a two man job to do this.I hope I can helpCharlie

 

[John]

Hitting the nail on the head

Hello Charlie. Indeed, this is the stanchion base on the toe rail. No bedding compound in the base itself. Corrosion seems to be the culprit preventing me from accessing the thru-the-hull bolt/nut. Last night a stainless specialist told me that the best way to loosen w/o twisting the cap-hex-head off (or stripping it) is to apply heat quickly and carefully to the cast aluminum. I plan on trying that this weekend.Meanwhile, access beneath the toe rail is complicated by cabinets and such (as if I need to tell you). I recently bought the boat and have replaced every system aboard, engine, reefer, ACwiring, lighting, plumbing, rigging, heating, etc... I was saving the stanchions for last, hoping that the ripping and tearing was pretty much over. But hey... she's a boat, and I love her. Thank you for the reply, John

 

[Charlie Gruetzner - BeneteauOwners.net]

On the right track

John, good luck. I think heat is the way to go but needless to say you need to be careful. I am afraid though you will still have to get behind the cabinets eventually to remove the nuts and then replace them. When you replace the stanchions make sure you put some type of insulator between the two different metals to to stop the corrosion. Water has a tendency to collect at the base and that is what causes the problem. Large amount of whatever bedding compound is good but make sure that when you tighten the stanchionss it doesn't get squeezed out. Tufnol is excellent so you might want to try that.Good luckCharlie

 

[Rob Leimgardt]

Galvanic Corrosion

John,You are experiencing a case of galvanic corrosion/sissimilar metals. I hope that you are working on a solution to this existing problem. Is yur vessel properly bonded throughout, and do you have alot of areas where this is happening?RL