What causes this and what is the remedy?

[Tawney1]

There is discoloration around a number of our stainless stantions and deck cleats, as can be seen from the attached photos.

What is the cause, how does one get rid of it, and what can be done to prevent it in the future?

Many thanks,

Paul

 

[Capt.Erich]

It's hart to tell from the photo's but rust is not uncommon. You might try using Wink. It is quite corrosive so don't get it on your skin. It will burn. It will also strip the wax off your boat as well.

 

[MarioG]

Try vineger, scrub with a small brush.

 

[captddis]

After cleaning they need to be resealed, the rust is from water trapped under the fitting.

 

[Passages]

It's crevice corrosion. It's caused by failing bedding around the fastener.

Commonly reveils itself in the form of rust halos surrounding SS fasteners. May indicate core moisture.

The fix is the remove the offending fastener, Inspect thread for integrity, (replace if bad) and either rebed the base OR bore out the fastener hole, check core condition, if OK refill hole with epoxy, redrill proper size pilot hole and done.

If the core does not check out, we need to start another thread titled "Replacing Baltec Balsa Coring"

 

[Tawney1]

Many thanks guys.

What is best to use to reseal or rebed the fixtures?

 

[MikeP]

For bedding - 3M 5200!!

That's my opinion - it's the only product I use for this purpose but I'll admit that lots of other folks prefer something a bit less "extreme."

 

[67hat34c]

5200 not uv stable but 4000 uv is. recommend using 4000 uv above waterline.

 

[MikeP]

Well, here is where I got my first "introduction" to 5200 some years ago...

It's worth reading (as are all his articles):

http://www.yachtsurvey.com/dealing_with_leaks.htm

 

[krush]

Well, here is where I got my first "introduction" to 5200 some years ago...

That guy has lots of info...I actually bought his books a while back too. They have tons of information but are written pretty poorly with bad gramar, typos, and spelling errors haha.

He reminds me much like my old man. He seems so set in his ways that there is ONLY ONE correct way to skin a cat...but he's honest and doesn't sugarcoat anything. I can confirm EVERY bad thing he's said about sea-rays. I worked on a 45 foot pee-ray that was 5 years old and beginning to rot.

 

[67hat34c]

yeh pasco is pretty jaded, his way or the highway. Most of what is says is dead on from what I can see.


Back to 5200, 4000 uv and the rest of 3m adhesives. Has anyone had the experience of the stuff not fully curing? such as when you remove something there may be stuff in the middle that never dried? Well I have. Not sure why it would do that, possibly it was old, not sure about shelf life on this stuff.

Prior owner used 5200 on alot of stuff, did not use in proper places like trying to seal window frames from the outside, It broke down in the sun and rotted fairly quickly. Stuff I am doing that is exposed to sun is being sealed with 4000uv, almost as strong as 5200 but uv stable, they have it in fast cure and regular cure. comes in purple tube. so far so good. I tried some polyurithane sealer from DAP, home dept stuff, it smells like 5200 and acts like but does not have the strength. it was listed as uv stable which is yet to be seen. it did not cure the way the 3m stuff does. we sealed the rub rail only in the cockpit area with it, experiment. Did this when we took the rail off. sealed everything forward with 4000uv and ran out so went to homo and got the dap. figured it will be fine for cockpit area since water intrusion through screw holes is not that big a deal in that area. would not recommend it again however.

 

[MikeP]

Re Pascoe - maybe one reason I like him is that he reminds me of me!

 

[67hat34c]

yeh, he hates searays about as much as you hate Qjet carbs.

 

[Tawney1]

Okay,

I read Pascoe on the subject of resealing the stanchion bases and other hardware. Thanks for the site link to his articles!

To repair leaks, he talks about removing the bases first, and then mentions something about stanchion bases being bolted. He says the removal and replacement can be a nightmare because many manufacurers do not provide access to the underside.

I take it, then, that the bases may be thru-bolted through the deck or gunnale --rather than being screwed into the gunnal. On our Hatteras boats, are they bolted or just screwed into the gunnal and deck?

If they are bolted rather than just screwed into the gunnal, it appears clear to me that on our 61' , one cannot access the underside, so it will be really tough to deal with bolts, without having access to the underside, during removal in order to repair the leaks and get rid of the stains around the hardware.

Does anyone know what Hatteras did here?

Thanks,
Paul

 

[yachtsmanbill]

My '74 58' had stanchion bases screwed down with big wood screws. The ones I re bedded , I drilled and tapped for machine screws. My Roamer was through bolted. Thats a 1963; by todays standards, would be cost prohibitive. Through bolting or at least bolting with machine screws to me, is preferable. I never trusted wood screws for a life support system. Period. ws

 

[bobk]

I have had rust stains develop in areas where fresh Algrip contacts stainless fittings. This is clearly not related to the bedding. After a few cleanings with Neverdull, the rust seems to stay away. It could be due to crevice corrosion at the metal/paint interface, or as I've suspected, due to some interaction of the Algrip cure system with the passivated metal surface since it can be eliminated by cleaning. I'd check that first before removing and rebedding all the fittings.

Bob

 

[Angela]

I found that on our 58MY the rubrail and the stantion bases were secured with screws, not bolted. I had an area with the rubrail that was problematic for coming loose, mostly due to storm damage from rubbing a piling initially, and then the repairs made thereafter by a PO just went downhill from there. I was left with holes that were stripped out where they put in bigger and bigger screws and then those came out, etc. Working on that area was difficult because I don't have finger piers. So, removing the rubrail and starting over by filling with epoxy was going to be near impossible to do in the slip. Fortunately, the backside of that area that was problematic was accessible to a 10 year old boy after crawling through an access panel in a cabinet. I had him put washers and nuts on the back of bolts while his dad drove them through from the outside. I think my fix is better than new, and I don't expect to see that rubrail coming loose again. (Yes, we did bed the rubrail and screws)

If you have any areas where these stantions are accessible, I would bolt them down - where I could. I have the same rust stains around some of my stantion bases, so thanks for starting this thread. I have not yet gotten to working on my stantion bases, but it's coming up.

 

[Angela]

I've been thinking about this some more since I, too, have to deal with this sooner than later.

Suppose I remove the bases, rebed them and screws with 4000uv or 5200 and reassemble everything. I have three sets of life lines piercing every stantion and the teak hand rail on top. It rains really hard, and sideways, every afternoon for days like it's currently doing here in South Florida now. The rain water gets into the inside of the stantion through the entry/exit holes for the three sets of life lines. Where does the water go now that the base is all sealed up? Does it just sit in a pool at the stantion base and rust the base from the inside out?

Should the screws only be bedded and not bed the base itself to the fiberglass surface so that trapped rain water has a place to exit? I don't see any way of keeping rain water from getting inside the stantions.

 

[captddis]

On the 61 and a lot of others there are plates laminater into or under the glass and tapped. The bolts usually will unscrew.The tapped holes have slotted machine screws if it is screwed ther are the robertson square heads. Hatt used a sticky glazing compound on most hardware that does not harden. When I remove one I use caulking and the rust does not return. It also helps to plug the stantion at the top[ Hatt usually did this at the factory] so the stantion does not fill with water. On handrails that have low spots I drill a small drain hole to let the water out. Strange as it sounds I have seen stantions full to the top with water. It slowly works its way out and keeps the area wet and rusts.