Removing Liferail Stanchion Bases

[SereneWarrior]

Have been refurbishing the liferail on our 1970 53MY. Stripping the rail of the peeling white paint and refinishing in natural wood/varnish has produced wome outstanding looking results. So far have completed the aft sections and they look terrific. Removed the two long forward wood sections from the stanchions this weekend and took them home to do the same and that's all good.

My problem is with the hardware, specifically with the volcano style stanchion bases and how to remove them from the deck. About a dozen of mine are ovalized or cracked and must be replaced. As they are, the liferail is sort of rickety, particularly near the midships gates. I have found a machinist locally who can manufacture new bases at a very reasonable cost, but I have to remove the damaged ones before that can happen. Each is held down with three large stainless steel screws that simply do not want to come out. I do not want to twist the heads off of the screws or strip them with the large flathead screwdriver and am looking for advice. Have tried tapping the screws with a hammer to break them loose and have attempted to start them clockwise before removing... all without any success whatsoever. These things clearly intend to stay put unless I can come up with a better method! My next step will be to buy and use an impact driver to break them loose, but if anyone has a better suggestion I am open to ideas. Has anybody done this job before? How do I remove these stubborn screws from the deck?

 

[REBrueckner]

I tried the same and failed....1972 YF....I gave up as it was not a priority.

Apparently there are threaded stainless studs fastened into reportedly aluminum plates within the fiberglass....over time, the stainless and aluminum "welds" (corrodes) together....I'll be interested in seeing any reasonable solutions....drilling out,removing stainless studs, and rethreading emebedded (soft) plates is something I did not want to undertake....

 

[Walter P]

Buy some left hand drill bits and after (or before) you break off the heads of the existing screws, use a good sharp center punch and start drilling. Be sure that the drill bit you are using is no more than 3/16" or so as you are dealing with 1/4 x 20 screws. Very often the heat created by drilling and the opposite turning of the left handed drills will cause the original screw to just back out while drilling. The worse case is if you screw up, you can always go to a 5/16' screw but have your machinist friend reduce the heads, including the oval to match the size of the countersunk holes in the new bases. Involves more work since now you need to drill and tap new holes. Don't forget to coat the new screws with Tef Gel or other sieze preventor.

Walt

 

[robertm]

All of ours came out after several days of soaking in penetrating oil, applying generous amounts each day. We made a tool by welding a correct size (#3 i think) short phillips head into a socket and turned it with a long-handled rachet, putting a lot of downward pressure on the screws while turning very slowly and deliberately. Only a few required impact, and none of them broke off or stripped out. When the new screws were set, each screw was treated with anti-sieze.

 

[yachtsmanbill]

Mine are all screwed down with No.10 self tapping (sheet metal) screws into an imbedded aluminum plate on the gun'l. Mine came out relatively easy, but I would suggest an impact screw driver for breaking them free. Usually a little shock will free them up. You can also take an expendable #3 driver and make it red hot to thermally shock them loose. This may take several attempts.
I plan on tapping mine for machine screws when it goes back together tomorrow. Good luck finding the bases! I may have some left over next spring when I update my forward rail. Maybe 8 of them. I plan on using SS tubing and new SS bases for the forward 20 feet. My rail is pretty rickety as well! Plus, ol' bubba added a fistfulof extra screws to help tighten them up.
The mungoo underneath them shows the OEM caulk job and a pile of crud to boot. Hatteras used a single chrome plating process and the remains sanded off with little effort. When these go back on they'll look much better with some nice new SS screws. I know the judges will spank my PeePee but ya know what I always say... LOL ws

 

[spartonboat1]

Those are not SS screws holding the base to the aluminum embedded plate. Instead I believe they are chrome plated brass machine threaded screws (or should be, i.e. OEM).

This is based on removing two such screws that had broken off, at a stanchion at one of the boarding entrances, on a '72 43'DC. One was already broken, and another screw then broke, since not all three were present to bear the load.

The advantage to the brass screws is that, should they ever break (or break again), the brass is soft enough to be drilled out; SS is too hard to drill out, plus may have galvanic corrosion issues with the aluminum embedded plate.

In my case, I found I had to remove some of the fiberglas around the screw hole, under the stanchion base. I was then able to more easily access the screw and remove it. I also removed one screw by carefully drilling a hole into its center and using an 'EZ out' to back it out.

So one screw came easily and one came out with difficulty.

Ironically, replaced each screw with a SS screw, although I would have preferred to use the chrome plated brass. SS is what was readily available.

 

[dastahl]

I had to remove two stantions because they were cracked. I got four of the six bronze machine screws out of the aluminium using heat and many treatments with Wd40 and other release agents. I used the exact fitting screw head and and a brace and bit my grandfather gave me.
I ground out the heads of the remaining screws with a dramel type tool. After removing the head and pulling off the stantion (my 1980 Hatt has one piece stantions) I could get a vice grip on the screw body and remove it easily from the alum. plate.
I had the cracks welded and polished at the stainless shop in town for $125 each and put them back on with stailess screws dripped in never-seize.
Hope this helps.
Skooch

 

[ReelT]

My father did a similar project on our ’72 YF about 10 years ago. The entire port side railing was removed and the hardware re-chromed from the bow pulpit to the midship gate.

All of the stanchion bases on our boat were held in place with stainless steel screws and had to be drilled (perhaps the original screws had been changed by PO). The head of each screw (I believe 3 per base) were drilled down so that they were flush with the deck. To remount the stanchion bases; new holes were drilled in the deck/ aluminum base plate. He used what I believe are called “toggle” bolts… they have the butterfly “wings” (stainless of course). Once placed into the hole; the “wings” open behind the aluminum base plate and this provides a very solid mount to secure the stanchion bases.

I would only advise the above process as a last resort. All of the screws on our stanchion bases were stainless and were permanently “welded” to the aluminum base plate. You’ll need a box or two of the hardest drill bits you can find (dad visited a local machine shop) to drill out the stainless screws; however it can be done even.

Good luck!

Brandon

 

[yachtsmanbill]

There is no question whatsoever that mine were Stainless self tappers. OEM or not, thats what they were. The holes were a tad smaller than the 3/16 required for the machine screws. I drilled and tapped them today into the aluminum plate underneath the glass.
Pardon the beater screws... I had to order new ones today, but it all went together with a reasonable amount of persuasion. The roof had sagged about an inch an my trusty 2 ton bottle jack moved it with room to spare... ws

 

[SereneWarrior]

Rob, Walt, Robert, Bill, Sparton, Skooch, Brandon...Thanks for the info and the suggested/tested solutions. Have lots to try this weekend! Currently, the garage is filled with wooden rails, all stripped of paint and in varying states of sanding/smoothing before staining/varnishing. I can already tell this will be a worthwhile project...and your help will have played a major role!

 

[yachtsmanbill]

Count yer blessings!! ws

 

[tradewind]

Re did a 74 38' removed all the stantions any problems with the screws re-taped and used SS heli-coils could use the same bolts as the others. Worked great. Got new bolts from Sams.

 

[SereneWarrior]

Update: Used the pentrating oil, a drop or two per bolt several times over a two week period, and they finally began to break loose. I have 14 of the bases out now and will take the rest this weekend. Now have the wooden rail refurbished in the garage and have begun to clean, strip and paint (not rechrome) the bases. Used a ball peen hammer to slowly reshape the ovalized ones as the bronze is pretty soft. Realize this is not the best answer, but it beats a more expensive replacement for the time being. Will remanufacture the wire lower lifeline this weekend once I buy the stainless steel turnbuckles and recondition the bronze fittings. My bet is that this job will not look quite like new, but will end up looking pretty good. Thanks to my HOF friends for your contributions to this success story! Job is not quite done, but it's apparent that this is one more step on the way to a good looking boat.

 

[Bill Root]

While replacing the salon ceiling panels on my 43 DCMY I was able to look up under the toe rail to see how the stanchions were fastened. Mine have bolts and washers that are bedded in epoxy or some other stuff to keep them from turning. There may be a threaded plate in the toe rail also, but I don't think so. The problem with this fastening method is that the bedding stuff gets hard and brittle over time. If it breaks loose while trying to extract the bolt, then it just turns and you are "screwed". If there is any way you can open up a cabinet and get a look under the toe rail before you start, I think it would certainly help you determine how best to proceed.

 

[Bill Allen]

When I redid my mast I chrome powder coated my brass fittings. Easy to do and although up close they're not true chrome from more then five ft you'd be hard pressed to see they're not. Did it last winter mast has been on the boat since and it looks unchanged from when I did it. When I do my railings this year I'll powder coat the bases. Cheap way to get around chrome. Bill

 

[stilespb]

Some folks also go to nickel plating vice rechroming. Similar appearance. As I recall, nickel is softer than chrome but I am not sure it would make much difference on the volcano bases.

I believe I have seen some old volcano bases in the junk yard room at the Fairwinds Marina outside Annapolis in case the hammer repair does not meet all your hopes.

 

[TopHattandTails]

Anyone know the diameter AND circumference of the typical stanchions (specifically the forward most stanchion)? Looking to upgrade with some Marquipt bumper holders - and need to know the diameter and circumference for ordering (1980 53MY). Thanks in advance!

 

[yachtsmanbill]

The stainless rails are 1" o.d. ws

 

[TopHattandTails]

that's what I needed - thanks!