Tighten/loosen stanchion nuts with only one person

[patrickkidd]

Has anyone ever figured out a clever way to tighten or loosen nuts for stanchions or other deck hardware without a separate person holding a wrench or socket on them inside the boat? I am alone working on this stuff and vice grips don’t always hold the nut and sometimes scratch stainless steel.

thanks!

 

[dLj]

I've taken the tool for one side and duct taped it in place, go to the other side and tighten. Depends upon how positioning works to hold the tool not in your hands.

dj

 

[jssailem]

Patrick It may be time to meet some of the local kids and see if they would like to ride on a sail boat.

Oh hope you guys don't mind we have a little bit of work to do before we head back to the marina...

 

[Alan Gomes]

I just did mine by myself.

What helps is if you replace the bolts with hex heads. This makes it easy to position an open end wrench on them and use either duct tape or position them such that the body of the wrench will naturally wedge against a part of the stanchion when you tighten it.

 

[Close Call]

Vise grips often work.

 

[shemandr]

When I finally crawled back into the nether regions of my Mark 25 I found one of the backing plates for the engine mount was a rusted Vice Grip. I left it.

 

[Tally Ho]

Has anyone ever figured out a clever way to tighten or loosen nuts for stanchions or other deck hardware without a separate person holding a wrench or socket on them inside the boat? I am alone working on this stuff and vice grips don’t always hold the nut and sometimes scratch stainless steel.

thanks!

Funny you should ask...I was working on mine today.

On my stanchions, the bolts are hex-heads. I have 4 vice grips (with rubber jackets on them). I tighten one on each bolt, and then go inside and take the nuts off. I don’t worry too much about scratching (old boat).

I had one that was really tight, and the vice grips slipped off several times. I eventually put a socket on the inside nut, and jammed something under the socket wrench to hold it in place...then I went topside with another socket and got it loose. Then the vice grips held it while I took the nut off from below.

My midship cleats have Phillips head screws...so when I rebed these, I had to call my buddy who lives at the marina, offer him a for holding the screw driver for 5 minutes.

i did see a neat tool one day (probably on this forum), where someone welded 4sockets to a plate that fit over the bolt heads on his stanchions.

Greg

 

[Joe]

Breaking the seal with a socket will be easy.... then tape a flat wrench in place... that should hold it long enough for the wrench to find resistance against the hull or liner as you withdraw the bolt from topside.
If you're replacing stanchions, I recommend square holes in the base with carriage bolts for fasteners. The heads of the bolts will be smooth, the square shoulder of the carriage bolt keeps it from turning, everything is done from inside.

 

[shemandr]

Ok, I'll bite. How do you make a square hole in metal?

 

[jssailem]

Do they still make square hole drill bits? I think there was a manufacture back in the 40's.

 

[dLj]

Do they still make square hole drill bits? I think there was a manufacture back in the 40's.

I've owned these for wood, but never seen one for metal... Got a picture? I've only ever either punched square holes or milled them...

dj

 

[Joe]

Ok, I'll bite. How do you make a square hole in metal?

If you read my post, I said "if you're replacing stanchions".... which means you would order the bases with square holes. This is an option with garhauermarine stanchions.... don't know about other makers. Regarding the "how" I would imagine they use a stamping press with the appropriate die. There's nothing uncommon about "drilling" a square hole in metal to accommodate a carriage bolt or other square stock. The technique is called broaching, I believe. You might google it for more detail.

 

[Capt jgw]

When I finally crawled back into the nether regions of my Mark 25 I found one of the backing plates for the engine mount was a rusted Vice Grip. I left it.

I found a needle nose vice grips in my boat clamping off an unused hose. I removed the hose, lubed up the pliers and still use them today.

 

[Mr. Dave]

You could always have nuts welded onto the backing plate, getting the first bolt started in the first nut would then be your biggest challenge. Or drill and tap the holes into a thicker plate, plate thickness should match or exceed the bolt diameter

 

[shemandr]

...The technique is called broaching, I believe. You might google it for more detail.

I didn't mean to challenge the idea of a square hole. I just didn't understand how it's done. I think it's a great way to handle the two person stanchion maintenance problem.
There were so many jobs on past boat that would have gone - Oh so much more smoothly - with an assistant. But many didn't.

 

[MikeHoncho]

Put some butyl tape in the socket

 

[Benny17441]

For the longest time, we had some vice grips used as the gearshift lever on a Nissan 9.8 outboard. Yes, they were rusty and we could not take them off; we never tried very hard just tested them from time to time to make sure they would not unexpectedly fall off.

 

[DRhoads]