Boarding Gate Support Thru-Deck Bolt

Jeff Partington · Post by **Jeff Partington** » Mar 28th, '99, 14:52

A good idea to pass on to all:

I have a 30 MKII with boarding gates and an additional support arm that bolts through the deck. The bolts are designed so that the head is above deck and the nut is under. And of course they are not very accessable and of course they leak and of course they must be removed with the lifelines for winter layup. Silicone must be put around them in the summer, but they still leak.

Solution? Find a friendly welder, and tap weld some wide and thick stainless washers onto the head of the bolts as they would normally go on. Liberally apply 3M 5200 to the threaded side of the welded washer and push through the deck from BELOW. Put on the nuts and suck the assembly up tight to the deck. After the curing time (a week or so) the assembly will be bonded to the fiberglass underlayment of the deck, and the bolts can be cut to length with a Dremel tool. Now you have a post to mount the support arms and a sealed thru-deck post! Another source of leaks finished!!

Good Sailing!
Jeff Partington
t/t Whisper, hull # 24

CaptJester@AOL.Com