Bill Root
Well-known member
- Joined
- Oct 26, 2007
- Messages
- 817
- Status
- OWNER - I own a Hatteras Yacht
- Hatteras Model
- 54' MOTOR YACHT (1985 - 1988)
I spent the better part of a day trying to get the stuck casters off the MARQUIT seastairs. These casters have a 0.801" solid steel shaft with a slot around the circumference near the top. There is a steel ring in that slot that is designed to create tension in the receiver to hold the casters in place. I soaked the casters in PB Blaster, rapped on them with a hammer and even tried heat on the shaft receivers. Like Angela mentioned in her post, I got nothing, not even a slight movement. I decided to cut them off.
First step was to cut a slot in the bearing race to let the ball bearings fall out. That allowed me to get a sawzall blade into the slot between the bearing races to cut the 3/4" solid steel shaft. I actually managed to cut through all four caster shafts using only two sawzall metal-cutting blades from ACE Hardware.
Once I had cut through the shafts and remopved the casters I still had the cut off shafts stuck in their female receivers. I thought I could soak them in PB Blaster, heat them and then use an easyout to remove them. NO SUCH LUCK! Even after soaking for a day and using heat I was bending the receivers before I got any movement from the shafts. I gave up before I did any damage to the step, removed it and took it to my local machine shop where they bored out all four shafts for $80. Better than ruining a step. I found new steel casters at Sailorman in Ft. Lauderdale.
The moral of this story is: If you leave your seastairs attaced to your boat all thentime, or if, like me, you simply lay them on the dock when you leave the boat, be sure to remove the casters at least every two months and grease both the shafts and the receivers.
First step was to cut a slot in the bearing race to let the ball bearings fall out. That allowed me to get a sawzall blade into the slot between the bearing races to cut the 3/4" solid steel shaft. I actually managed to cut through all four caster shafts using only two sawzall metal-cutting blades from ACE Hardware.
Once I had cut through the shafts and remopved the casters I still had the cut off shafts stuck in their female receivers. I thought I could soak them in PB Blaster, heat them and then use an easyout to remove them. NO SUCH LUCK! Even after soaking for a day and using heat I was bending the receivers before I got any movement from the shafts. I gave up before I did any damage to the step, removed it and took it to my local machine shop where they bored out all four shafts for $80. Better than ruining a step. I found new steel casters at Sailorman in Ft. Lauderdale.
The moral of this story is: If you leave your seastairs attaced to your boat all thentime, or if, like me, you simply lay them on the dock when you leave the boat, be sure to remove the casters at least every two months and grease both the shafts and the receivers.
