Checking winch bolts...

[PortTack]

Working on removing/rebedding/cleaing up all the hardware and fittings on my Ty, these winch bolts were a little tired! And this is the better of the two, the other snapped after two turns of the wrench. Helpful reminder to check *everything!*

[Jim Walsh]

These were the bolts which attached the winch stand to the deck? What we are looking at is galvanic corrosion which has resulted in a “wasp waisted” machine screw. Great find.

[Frenchy]

I wonder what caused it. The winch base appears to be bronze, as is the bolt. Were there any other
metals in contact with the bolt?

[PortTack]

Yes, these were the bolts connecting the winch stand through the deck. There was no other metal making contact, to my knowledge, but I wouldn't be surprised if these bolts were the original. Bought the boat last year, seems that the previous owners did the bare minimum maintenance. She'll be on the hard all summer, so I'm taking my time to remove, inspect, and rebed each piece of hardware, as well as some other minor projects like varnishing all the teak, resealing the toe and rubrails, and sanding the hull above the waterline to fair and paint in order to repair some blistering.

[Ben Miller]

I'm taking my time to remove, inspect, and rebed each piece of hardware

Good for you! I'm tackling the same items (slowly, over several summers) and it's very satisfying to know that item X is solidly mounted and sealed with no chance of leakage. I haven't done my winch stands yet. I think they mount through an uncored portion of the deck, so they weren't high priority. They are now, though!

[bottomscraper]

I'm thinking somebody used brass rather than bronze bolts. It might have been a mixup from the supplier or some previous owner who just didn't know any better.

[s2sailorlis]

Great that you discovered this. I just rebedded my winches last year. Was a challenge due to the inner liner. It appeared to have been leaking for many years. Surprisingly the bolts were fine. I replaced mine with new stainless and used butyl rubber. Things are gone dry now.

Make sure you over drill, epoxy, and redrill the holes before fitment