Avenger
Legendary Member
- Joined
- Jun 23, 2005
- Messages
- 5,160
- Location
- LI - NY
- Status
- OWNER - I own a Hatteras Yacht
- Hatteras Model
- 36' CONVERTIBLE-Series I (1969 -1977)
I've come to the conclusion that I'm my own worst enemy when it comes to getting my boat back in shape. Well, second to someone who did some real hack work on the engines. But, we'll say no more about this. 
I wasted most of today making a part. Any person with the IQ of a squirrel would have used off-the-shelf items and made something that worked just as well in about 15 minutes. Which is really what counts because nobody will ever see this thing once it's installed. This is the story:
There's a transom zinc on my boat. AFAIK, Hatteras didn't put it there, but it seems like a good idea, so we'll keep it. Here's the problem. It's held in with a 7/16" stainless bolt. Stainless is a resistor, not something we want in a bonding system. Okay, so let's replace the bolt with a bronze one. I can't find one in 7/16" unless I want to buy a box of 100. 3/8" is too small, since the hull has already been drilled for 7/16". Also, the ring terminal for the bonding wire is captive under the bolt head requiring the boat to be out of the water if you want to add or change terminals. So what's my solution?....
Take a piece of bronze propellor shaft and machine it into a flanged hex-head stud bolt with a 7/16" shoulder to fit the hole. Naturally, It needs a large bearing surface where it clamps the transom so I machine a flange nut to go with it. I made the hexes thick enough so I can get a wrench on them behind whatever's attached so it's a one side operation to attach and remove things. I turned a recess into the backs of the flanges for the sealer to fill. DO YOU KNOW WHAT A P.I.T.A. IT IS TO MACHINE BRONZE SHAFTING?!?!? It's almost as bad as stainless. This probably took 10 hours! The only sane thing I did was to make the threads 3/8"-16 so I can use off-the-shelf bronze nuts to attach the zinc on the outside and the terminals on the inside.
What the he!! is wrong with me? Why didn't I just buy threaded rod, or cut off a long 3/8" bolt and use nuts and washers and a lot of 5200?
Are there any therapy groups for people who are afraid to offend a Hatteras with "adequate" work????
BTW, here's a picture. Since this is the only chance anyone will get to see it. And yeah, I'm showing off too.
I wasted most of today making a part. Any person with the IQ of a squirrel would have used off-the-shelf items and made something that worked just as well in about 15 minutes. Which is really what counts because nobody will ever see this thing once it's installed. This is the story:
There's a transom zinc on my boat. AFAIK, Hatteras didn't put it there, but it seems like a good idea, so we'll keep it. Here's the problem. It's held in with a 7/16" stainless bolt. Stainless is a resistor, not something we want in a bonding system. Okay, so let's replace the bolt with a bronze one. I can't find one in 7/16" unless I want to buy a box of 100. 3/8" is too small, since the hull has already been drilled for 7/16". Also, the ring terminal for the bonding wire is captive under the bolt head requiring the boat to be out of the water if you want to add or change terminals. So what's my solution?....
Take a piece of bronze propellor shaft and machine it into a flanged hex-head stud bolt with a 7/16" shoulder to fit the hole. Naturally, It needs a large bearing surface where it clamps the transom so I machine a flange nut to go with it. I made the hexes thick enough so I can get a wrench on them behind whatever's attached so it's a one side operation to attach and remove things. I turned a recess into the backs of the flanges for the sealer to fill. DO YOU KNOW WHAT A P.I.T.A. IT IS TO MACHINE BRONZE SHAFTING?!?!? It's almost as bad as stainless. This probably took 10 hours! The only sane thing I did was to make the threads 3/8"-16 so I can use off-the-shelf bronze nuts to attach the zinc on the outside and the terminals on the inside.
What the he!! is wrong with me? Why didn't I just buy threaded rod, or cut off a long 3/8" bolt and use nuts and washers and a lot of 5200?
Are there any therapy groups for people who are afraid to offend a Hatteras with "adequate" work????BTW, here's a picture. Since this is the only chance anyone will get to see it. And yeah, I'm showing off too.
