straightening bent stanchions

[Roland Gendreau]

Anyone have any suggestions for how to straighten bent stanchions?  I've removed them from the boat and would like to try to straighten them before throwing in the towel and ordering 2 new ones from Catalina Direct.  One of them has the holding tank vent and has a good 15-20 degree bend - the other one is bent slightly less.

Thanks

Roland Gendreau
Gratitude #1183

[Stu Jackson]

Roland,

It doesn't seem to be worth it.  We had two of our stanchions bent in a little mishap a few years ago.  One was the compound type with the vent, too.  A local stainless shop quoted $493, and Catalina Yachts (not Catalina Direct) sold them both to me for $153! (including the nuts, bolts and lock washers).   It's pretty hard to bend them back without breaking the tubes.  If you can get a good price, buy new ones.  It'll force you to wax the old ones because the new ones look so much better. The other advantages:  1) you get to re-bed two stanchions, and get practice for doing the next 8 or 12!  2) you get to learn about how your lifelines work

[dave davis]

I tried to straighten out the one that was bent at the bottom without much luck. I used a sludge hammer and an anvil but it was not good enough. If it was bent in the straight section, you can fill the tube with sand and use a tube bender to keep it from flattening. I had fun trying, but ended up buying a new one from CY
Good luck. Dave

[Mike Smith]

Is it the base or the tube?  I had one (well, actually two now because of Ivan) bent at the base and was looking for a new one until someone on this board said "Just bend it back and go sailing!" I took his advice!

Mike

[Norris Johnson]

A couple of years ago, I had two bent. Both were regular stanchions. I tried straighten them with no luck. Both were bent at the base. I bought two from Catalina for a little more than $50 bucks apiece. After installing them, I did have to clean up the old ones with Soft-Scrub so they would match the new ones.

[Ted Pounds]

As I understand it, if stainless is bent and straightened cold it is significantly weakened.  From a safety standpoint it may be best to bite the bullet and buy new ones.  Just a thought...

[Jim Price]

I agree with buying new ones.  They will be weaker at the bend and should you actually have a situation where you had significant pressure against the lifelines and the stanchion snapped, the remaining end could be lethal to your tender body parts.  That would be much worst than falling overboard.

[Roland Gendreau]

Thanks for the advice.  Both are bent at the base about 15-20 degrees. One of them is the one where the holding tank vent is, the other one just forward of that one.  I agree cold working SS might compromise strength and safety so I will go ahead order new ones.

Roland Gendreau
Gratitude #1183

[Ron Hill]

Roland : I've straightened a bent base on a vented stanchion.  Stainless is a fairly soft metal.  I used a 4x4 as the anvil and tapped the base back into it's original position with a hammer.  Didn't need alot of force, just patience.
Call Garhauer Marine (909-985-7513)- they were the ones that made them originally and see what they have to say.  

[Mike Vaccaro]

Two techniques that work well:

1.  Use a galvanized water pipe with an ID (inside diameter) equal or slightly larger than the stanchion and slide the pipe over the stanchion to the bend.  Carefully work the stanchion back to proper shape.
2.  If the proper ID is not available, use a galvanized water pipe with two or three hose clamps connecting it to the stanchion.  This also works very well for pulpits and pushpits bent during docking.

Both of these techniques will provide you with a fairly long lever arm (if you use a four or five foot section of pipe), so be careful not to overdo it!

If there is any doubt about the deck's ability to support this type of repair, then the stanchion is not mounted properly in the first place and may fail under load.  You may, however find that this type of repair will break a bedding seal, depending on how the stanchion was bedded in the first place.  If you repair it in situ, then recommend that you do a leak test to ensure that it is still properly bedded.  The other option is to simply remove the stanchion and repair it in the shop.

Fatigue issues are minimal and it's worth attempting a repair before you replace.

Best of luck,

Mike

[hump180]

I pounded out some bent stanchion bases recently and after thinking about it some I believe I know the culprit - Shrink wrap. I noticed that the bases were bent as if they were cantilevered inward by a strong consistent force. It is possible that the force of lifeline tension could be the source, but I believe now after looking at the extreme tension of the shrink wrap around stanchions throughout my boatyard this is the cause. I am currently rebedding everything with butyl tape, so hopefully no more leaks or problems. I wonder if this is a northern problem where shrink wrapping is more common.

[Ralph Masters]

Support the economy, buy two new ones.  really you will never get them to a point where the bend won't show, you may be the only one who knows, or actually the admiral, and it'll be a sore point.

Ralph
Ciao Bella

[Footloose]

Bill,

You are correct in your theory about shrink wrap.  One of our friends on a C 30 puts 2x4 braces with a notch at the ends between the stanchions before it is shrink wrapped.  He keeps them in place with hose clamps.  He began doing this after having several stanchions bent over a winter.  I have had to re-bed stanchions after shrink wrap and will begin putting braces in next winter before the boat gets wrapped.  Problem for us in the great white north. 

[Joe Holmes]

With respect to prevention of bent stanchions, please see the attached image of the frame I built last fall.  It sits inside the stanchions, so any snow sheds easily around the stanchions.  I used a cheap blue poly tarp and it worked great.  We had the highest snowfalls in many years this past winter, and a number of other boat covers collapsed under the weight.  It took a while to set up the first time, but came apart in just a couple of hours this past weekend.  At the bottom of the frame, I rolled the extra tarp length up underneath itself and attached some 1x3 strapping with drywall screws to hold it in place.  Just an idea from snowy Canada.

[Paulus]

I have extra stanchions.  I changed my holding tank and water tank vents last year and this fall I moved the gate to mid ship(nearly).  I bought 2 sets of gate stanchions with the supporting leg having the larger foot print rather than the round print.  If you are interested contact me by email:
paulus@wmis.net

Thanks,
Paul