Stanchions not fastened

[Jim Hardesty]

I just removed my stanchions for rebedding and to my shock the port gate stanchion was not bolted down.  The only thing holding was the 4 + 3 screws only secured by the sealant in the holes.  When I removed the trim piece in the head (over the cabinet) I expected to see fender washers and nuts.  Saw nothing but a little sealant drip.  Went up on deck and gave the stanchion a moderate tug and it came right out.
I searched this site and didn't find any references to this.  So I don't think that this is common.
To check it out all thats needed is to remove the trim over the head cabinet.  Need a #1 philips think its about 5 screws.  Then the stanchion and brace nuts should be visible.
Jim

[Stu Jackson]

Jim, never heard of that one, but I'm sure there are gonna be a lot of readers who are going to check theirs right away!  As far as head trim, remove only what you need to, sometimes just removing the white horizontal cover without removing wood trim is enough to get a socket wrench on an extender arm far enough up to hold the nuts.

Was this a factory stanchion or an add on?  "Cuz "port gate" doesn't sound factory to me.

[Lance Jones]

Yikes! Did you check the others? One of my projects after moving aboard this weekend is to re-do all the stanchions. Will over size the hole, fill with epoxy and re-drill.

[horsemel]

You should not have to remove wood trim to get at the underside of the stanchion.  I rebed all of my stanchions this summer and followed the excellent instructions found on this site and did not have any problems.  It is a tight fit to get at some of them and I definitely recommend having second set of hands to do the job.  If your boat is like mine, you will have wire runs in this area.  Just be careful you don't catch one between the nut and washer and overhead.  Just make the correction, inspect the other stanchions and don't worry about what was because you will make what is correct.
Mark Mueller

[Ron Hill]

Jim : As Bill Nuttall would say, "Paco struck again"! 

[Ted Pounds]

When you rebed the stanchions I recommend you make some sturdy backing plates for them.  I used aluminum bar stock because it's easy to work with.

[Roc]

What I noticed, and find it to be rather odd, my bow pulpit is not through bolted.  In the v-berth there are no bolts in the areas where the pultpit mounts are, at all four points.  Seems like they are just screwed in.  Does anyone notice the same?

[c34no1471]

I replaced my bow pulpit a couple of years ago.  It was (and is) screwed into the deck, and not through-bolted.  It seems that the screws go into a fiberglass/sheet metal "sandwich" base built into the deck.

George Alberts
Breezing Up
Catalina 34 MK II
Hull No. 1471