Flybridge Stanchion Re-bedding - 58 LRC

[BFDfirefighter16]

Hello everyone,
I am trying to pin down a few leaks and was wondering if anyone has rebedded their flybridge stanchions and if so were the stanchions bolted from underneath or were there plates imbedded in the glass when the deck was laid up at the factory. I want to re-bed everything but trying to size up just how big of a project I am looking at. Any help would be greatly appreciated.


Thanks,
Alex

 

[jmooney]

I would feel pretty certain that you have aluminum plates imbedded under the fiberglass upper skin . I replaced three , two were corroded , and one was missing due to a stanchion being moved . The stanchion screws will be hard to remove . Get a screw driver attachment for a socket set . Remove them very slowly, turning back and forth as if you were tapping the holes . It would be a good idea to run a tap in the holes to clean the threads. Use Tefgel on the screws to help prevent corrosion between the dissimilar metals . I used Life Caulk to bed the stanchions rather than 3M 4000 or 5200. Look around the stanchions for a crack in the fiberglass skin , this means that water entered the stanchion holes and corroded the aluminum plates. When I replaced my plates , I replaced the coring under them . About 10 inches by 10 inches. Also in the middle of our salon , one of the stanchion holes missed the plate and they drilled completely through the lower skin which caused an intermittent leak . When you get the stanchion screws out , go inside the boat and look for daylight coming through the ceiling . Things like this can be a great distraction from your normal boat maintenance. Re-bedding will worth the effort if it prevents having to replace the aluminum plates.

 

[Maurice]

There is a good YouTube video on re-bedding stanchions using epoxy. That's what I am going to do this spring when the weather warms up.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9l4ZtzmJae4