Lessons learned rebedding stanchions

[horsemel]

My son and I rebedded all eight of the stanchions on Blue Moon a week ago.  The project went well, but here are a couple of lessons we learned.
First, the directions for doing this i previous postings are fantastic.  Follow them.
Second, when drilling out the holes larger so you can fill them with resin, drill them two sizes larger rather than one.  We did one and it worked out, but if you do two sizes you will leave yourself more room for error.  The Dremel tool is fantastic for hollowing the wood core between the top and bottom layers.
Third, you will have some resin leak through no matter how well you tape underneath the holes.  Some say it is not necessary to add the thickener to the resin.  You definitely want to make it fairly thick to preclude the thin resin from getting out of the tape.  We had two holes that leaked no matter what we tried until we thickened the resin.
Fourth do all eight stanchions at once.  Some do it one at a time as they get the time.  Frankly, I think that by the time you get set-up and get everything organized you are better off doing it over two days and doing all eight.  The entire project took less than eight hours of actual work, but you have to let the resin cure.  The curing takes the longest.
Five swearing profusely as you try to get your big hands into tight spaces and between wire runs will have no impact on the amount of time the project takes to complete.  However, it does make you feel better.

Last Thursday we had a storm with 70 mph winds and heavy rain.  Some boats were damaged and a gas dock at one marina was ripped away. No leaks at the stanchions so I guess we passed the test.
Mark Mueller