Broken seat support screws

[bmacpiper]

Hey all,
Man, been a busy six months--have just been lurking and not contributing much...but have found time to chase the shrimp and crab on Crush, so at least that's good! Also became a paid firefighter here on the island after six years of volunteering, which is the reason for the sudden diminished time...

Anyway, I digress as usual.

I have a 2004 19' angler, and have a couple of fiberglass parts that need attention. I don't even really know what to call them, so searching archives didn't yield much assistance.

The dash in front of the operator is riveted upwards from the v-berth to the upper hull, right below the right-side windshield--a row of rivets that are just above all the wiring behind the wheel. Probably due to one too many hard waves, one or two of those have pulled out. Not sure how to repair that, since the rivet holes are already really big.

Also, to the right of the throttle, the glass that the throttle is bolted to (which also eventually bends to port and forms the support for the operator's seat), is screwed to a block of wood that it attached to the hull--this row of screws is visible if you look into the pocket behind the throttle, and look up a bit. Again, presumably due to some hard pounding by the previous owner, all of those screws but one are broken off right at the block of wood. Being stainless, and given their location, I'm going to go out on a limb and say they'll be a total pain to remove and replace.

Has anyone come up with some creative solutions to these problems? Neither is pressing, though the operator's seat support is starting to bounce/flex a bit and I'm sure the glass will start to fatigue and delaminate if I don't get a fix in place.

Thanks as always and see you on the water soon.
bmc

[thataway]

You have several choices for the rivets: I would replace the rivets, with ones which have washers under the head. This distributes out the load. When you put in the Rivets, spread the glass apart and put in 5200 (use some masking tape to till to prevent 5200 from getting on other areas. Once the 5200 sets up, then you will not have any more flexing in this area.

As for the seat: It sounds as if with some contortions you can get to this block of wood. The best thing to do is to laminate this wood with overlays of glass cloth (at least 6 oz and epoxy to the fiberglass hull. You may want to grind off the screws first. What holds the board to the hull?--it cannot be screws into the fiberglass of the hull. Putting layers of glass over the board will spread out the load and make this entire area much stronger--and keep the board in place.

[bmacpiper]

Thanks Bob. Re-read my original, and thought, "man, I gotta get some pictures of this...".

So, first of all--does 5200 act as an adhesive in addition to being a sealant? If I understood you correctly, you're saying to use it as glue between the two layers that are being riveted together? If so, that will be helpful on the other problem too. I can use some sort of jack to hold the dash piece in place while riveting and letting the 5200 set up. Here's a picture of the dash--the pulled rivet(s) are at the far end, just above the vertical black wire in the photo. They have white over them, a bit hard to see:



The next picture is showing the row of (broken) screws in question next to the throttle. You can see where the upright piece has pulled away from the hull towards the rear--look for dirt:



And the last picture is taken inside the starboard pocket, looking forward and slightly upward--you can see two of the broken screws, as well as the block of plastic (I thought it was wood) that is screwed/riveted to the hull/step vertically:



One thing I notice is that the original screws are pan head, and I could probably deflect them a few degrees fore or aft, and just leave the broken ends in the plastic block. If the 5200 will help support that piece from moving up and down, I doubt I'll break them again.

Any other thoughts welcome!

ben

[thataway]

5200 is an excellent adhesive--when it adheres (which is 99% of the time)--if you clean the joint with acetone or MEK it should adhere well.
Hold the crack open with wedges of some type--wood would work fine.

You can use wedges and wood to push it up and rivet. This would be a good idea. A jack might put too much pressure on it.

I think I understand the problem--there is a bock of "Starboard" This appears to be screwed into the underside of the deck (?). The pan head screws are into this block from the inside of the boat. You can put in larger screws in the same holes. You can also double up on the screws. Agree that fixing the above will help prevent this.

Thanks for the photos.

[bmacpiper]

OK, sounds good. Yes, the block is screwed into the hull directly below the "walkway" that goes around the cabin to the bow. Doubling the screws is another terrific idea, but may try 5200 and new screws and go from there. Perhaps I'll even remove the Starboard and flip it around to get new plastic on the other side. It might be a candidate for 5200 also.

Thanks,
bmc