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Both nuts are now gone.  POP!  POP!   

It was a very good day. 

So glad to see someone benefited from my experience.  Thanks Stu for the feedback on my posting - de ja vu complete with the box wrench snipe!  Did you get the bang and sparks too when the nuts split? Scared the you know what out of me the first time!

We sold our C34 last fall (2017) with the plan of buying a newer boat when I retire in about a year.  The plan was to save the C$12,000 for two years of moorage and put it to the newer boat - Will be a Catalina.  My wife however, booked us on a two week Greece trip this summer, which included an eight day sailboat charter; Only C$10,000 for flights et al, so still have C$2,000 for the next boat LOL.  I'm not a traveler, but it was a trip of a lifetime and the sailing to the various islands was amazing.

Anyway slid back into the C34 website looking for boat mattress suggestions (planing the newer boat details ;-) and thought I'd check for any responses to my posts.

All the best everyone, and L'Abri has maintained her name with the new owners if you happen to see them around the PNW.

SUCCESS!

After trying everything else including multiple brands of penetrating oil (none of which showed any migration into the threads) over multiple applications, impact wrenches, heating the nuts etc, it came down to the Dremel and the nut splitter - Credit to Jim Hardesty who was the first response to the initial post.

When I initially tried the nut splitter on the chainplate acorn nuts, it didn't work - It only left a slight indentation on the nut from the nut splitter blade.  Only after I used the Dremel with the fiberglass metal cutting wheel (about one 1" wheel and 20 minutes per nut BTW) to remove the dome of the acrorn nut, did the nut splitter work - I suspect the dome gave the nut too much strength over an area not touching the nut splitter blade.

It took a box wrench as a snipe on the handle of my ratchet to have enough turning torque to turn the nut splitter in enough to split the nut, but it worked on all four nuts that I was trying to remove.  When they split, it is with a bang and a few sparks!  In each case I only had to split one side of the nut, and the remainder would either fall off with a few light taps of the hammer, or would back off using the socket set as the bolt threads were not damaged.  The nut splitter was a low end, inexpensive C$12.50 (On sale %0% off - about US$2 LOL) made in China model to boot.

The Dremel was easy to handle in the tight space, preventing any collateral damage, and the heat produced by the cutting action was also easy to control as it didn't remove near the amount of metal that my angle grinder would have.  Although I could have cut right through the nut/bolt with the Dremel, it would have taken longer, and used more cutting wheels, plus more chance of over heating the surrounding area.

Thanks again for all of the suggestions, and I hope my experience helps someone in the future.

Steve

Craig - I can't stop laughing aloud!!!! Love the C4 comment!!!

I'm going to get at the job as soon as the season is truly done, and I'll update the results starting with how/if the nut splitter worked, then move up the ladder of suggestions, hoping to avoid the C4 though.

Great responses everyone.

1) I fear the heat created by cutting will transfer into the bolt and the rest of chainplate, therefore heating the fiberglass where it contacts.  I read somewhere, but I'm unable to relocate the info, that fiberglass/resin breaks down around 250F - It's not so much the cloth, but the resin that fails.

2) Breaker/torque wrench etc. fail because the person in the topside with the worlds biggest flathead screwdriver, is unable to keep the screwdriver blade in the round bolt head - screwdriver jumps out not matter how much weight is applied to the screwdriver.

Here's the plan... I'm going to buy a nut splitter and try it first - too easy IF it works.  Failing that, I'll go the Dremel route, although I have to research cutting blades as I have no experience with same.  I'll update the results.

Thanks again.

Thanks everyone who's chimed in so far.

1) It is an acorn nut on one of my chainplates, I don't recall the actual size but they're not trivial.

2) Because of the bolts passing through the deck, I'm reluctant to go with any cutting such as an angle grinder or Dremel as I know fiberglass is not very heat tolerant.  That being said, I guy could cut a bit, rest a bit, to control the heat build-up.  I'm not very experienced with cutting heavy metal with a Dremel though, angle grinder won't fit.  Tried trimming my HX zincs once, didn't work very well - slow cuts with a chop saw did though ;-)

3) I don't mind spending more for quality tools, and agree the lower cost import tools tend fail under real use, but I'm concerned with the performance of a nut splitter vs. stainless.

I've been trying to remove a seized stainless steel acorn nut using various penetrating oil/concoctions (please don't recommend any more, I've tried so many, "guaranteed to work"), controlled application of heat, impact wrenches, and all combinations thereof without any success.  Angle grinders/sawing won't work in this situation unfortunately.

Somehow I've been living in cave and just learned about nut splitters, which I believe would be the answer to my prayers.  My question is does anyone have experience with these and in particular with stainless steel acorn nuts?  Lots of stuff on youtube, but nothing for stainless that I could find.  What I have learned is the cheap brands have a high failure rate, but I'm reluctant to drop money on a quality nut splitter only to not have it work.

Comments on nut splitters vs stainless?

If memory serves, there is a hex head screw in the center of that black knob.  Loosen the screw which will allow you to turn the knob to adjust the belt tension, then re-tighten the screw to hold the knob in place.  I adjust mine just enough to not slip under all but the heaviest of weather.

Sorry we missed it as well.  I wasn't aware of it past or present; Is it advertised widely?

Jon:

They are through-bolted and given that my hull is a Mk 1, it should work on yours too.

Jon/Noah:

I BELIEVE they're 1 1/4", and they run from the diesel/aft water tank inlets, forward halfway up the length of the inboard track (just forward of the double stanchions).  I don't have a picture of the track per se, but I will attach what I can that shows the outboard tracks.  LOL in my search of my photos that showed the outboard tracks, I came across another that is totally unrelated, but thought was worth sharing - A real "Oh my" moment!    It was taken by a buddy of mine.

The outside tracks are on mine, and I ass/u/me d they were standard - Use them to fly my asymmetrical.

My $0.02 worth...  I'm a huge believer in butyl tape - inexpensive, doesn't get hard and brittle, easy to clean up/remove, +60F working temp is a huge exaggeration, and much more elasticity than any caulking which equals longevity.

Steve

For reference, I run my 1500 watt hot water heater and 20 amp battery charger simultaneously routinely and my Honda 2000 watt generator never complains - runs full blast though if the hot water tank is calling for heat.  The hot water heater is a pure resistive load, but the A/C would certainly draw more current each time the compressor fires up to cool.  I would be surprised if you could run them both together; One at a time.

UPDATE:

The insurance company Underwriter as a result of speaking with the Surveyor, has declared my LPG system "NFPA Certified"...  I suspect a better terminology would have perhaps been NFPA compliant, meaning the spirit of the NFPA recommendations for a LPG system in general are met.  Anyway, it's a non-issue now, and if becomes an issue in the future, I will take the many suggestions to find another insurance company.  I suspect it was the result of someone who doesn't understand what they are actually asking for.

Thanks to everyone for their input.

[me]

Thanks for the input everyone.

Just for the experience, here is where we are at, at the moment.  I spoke to the Underwriter and I shared the information that was posted in response to my original forum message, plus other research, but I was unable to sway them - They state it's specifically written in the insurance company's requirements to insure a boat.  I was told that they have received surveys in the past citing that a boat was NFPA compliant, but they were unable to provide me the portion of the NFPA that was applicable to boats, or the qualification of the "professional" that I needed to inspect the set-up; Just, "...someone who is experienced in installing boat LPG systems..."

To help me better understand, they advised that they would have a Surveyor that they deal with call me, which he did.  He agreed that NFPA doesn't apply to boats, and the ABYC is the more appropriate reference.  He says recommendations within the NFPA are sound, and apparently the RV manufacturers use the NFPA as their LPG installation guide.

He advised me that he'll call the Underwriter back and try to explain it to them.  In the interim he suggested I take photos of the set-up as they may be needed to satisfy the situation.  He stated if it was the normal LPG factory set-up, there should be no concerns with the system's design.

I'll post the final outcome once it's known, but wanted to thank everyone for the replies.