Garhauer Bow Roller Assembly

tommyt · April 16, 2008, 06:21:59 AM

Good Morning,

Tried a search and could not find anything on this one.

A friend, and still one regardless, got caught in a crosswind last fall and drifted down on a solid pier with the bow roller assembly taking the hit. I have the new assembly from Garhauer, and now need to replace it. Did a little yesterday, and removed the five bolts. That was not much problem. However, now the fun begins.

Has anyone else replaced this assembly? What is it bedded in? What was successful for you in getting it off? Anything to be aware of as I tackle this?

Thanks in advance.

Tom Mallery
2004 C34-MkII #1679

tommyt · April 17, 2008, 07:54:17 PM

So, wait a minute. This site always has the answer. Where was it?

Got my own answers from Catalina. FYI, they use 4200 as the sealant/adhesive on the bow roller assembly and also at the contact points on the rub rails. Their suggestion, use the jib halyard or something to get some leverage. After the bolts are off it should come off. It worked! Oh, and to remove the 4200, WM has a spray that cuts the bond and it does work. I looked at Defender, and they have a 3M product that is about 3 times the volume at the same price. Next time I guess.

Also, the rub rail is screwed into the hull at about 6" intervals. It is thru bolted at about 15" intervals. Definetely a two person job on those thru bolts.

Craig Illman · June 10, 2008, 07:17:58 PM

Tom - I'm going to replace my bow roller this weekend with the longer version from Catalina Direct. I'm going to need to drill a couple additional holes. Could you tell if the area underneath the roller was cored or solid glass? I'm trying to anticipate whether I'm going to have to overdrill and use penetrating epoxy.

Craig

Ted Pounds · June 10, 2008, 07:24:18 PM

I'm pretty sure it's solid layup at the bow; no core. It certainly was just outside of the roller area where I added two cleats. But, for the 100% guaranteed answer call Catalina.

Craig Illman · June 10, 2008, 07:37:08 PM

Ted - Thanks. I have the requiste materials, just in case. Maybe I'll get lucky! Boat projects always seem to take 4-5 times as long as one anticipates they should.

Craig

tommyt · June 10, 2008, 09:21:03 PM

I replaced with a replica and did not have to drill. However, it was solid.

Getting the old off was not as hard as I thought it would be. West Marine sells a product that loosens the bond. If the mast is up, just let the product set for a while and start adding a little tension at a time to the roller unit. It will lift off with little problem. Oh, and when you drop the washers or nuts when reaching way back to get them on the through bolts....on my boat they ended up at the base of the water tank under the v-berth. If you have a friend with long skinny arms they would be a good person to invite aboard for the job. Just make sure you kill the spiders first if you have them.

Ted Pounds · June 11, 2008, 08:20:58 AM

That reminds me of another trick - tie a string around any wrenches you have to put in there. That way when (note I did not say 'if'

) you drop them they are easy to retrieve.

Craig Illman · June 13, 2008, 05:22:12 PM

Tom - Thanks for the tip from Catalina about the DeBond and pulling with the spare jib halyard. The debond works pretty fast, we had it off in about ten minutes after removing the fasteners.

Ted - That also was a useful comment on the string. I didn't drop a wrench, just one washer, but it gave me piece of mind.

I'm glad I have smallish arms, there isn't a lot of working space through that beckson port when you're reaching all the way forward. We wound up drilling the head off the most forward bolt. It was about impossible to feel one's way to put the open end wrench on it. There was no clearance to put my ratcheting box wrench on the nut.

Craig

Ted Pounds · June 13, 2008, 06:14:05 PM

Craig,

I guess it make sense that you wouldn't drop a wrench with a string on it. But Murphy would argue that if you didn't use the string they'd be dropping like flies.

ken003 · June 13, 2008, 07:42:20 PM

Are you using the round headed bolts to install these bow rollers? If so, where do you get them? Is there a trick to holding them while the nut is put on or just clamp them with vise grips? They are not actually carriage bolts are they?

Thanks,
Ken

Craig Illman · June 13, 2008, 07:53:37 PM

Ken - The roller from Catalina Direct was puched with square 3/8" holes. I bought stainless carriage bolts from WM. It wasn't very thick glass. I originally picked up 5/16x2, but went and got 5/16x1.5 instead. I original bow roller had pan head bolts.

Craig

ken003 · June 14, 2008, 04:33:49 PM

I bought a bow roller at a WM tent sale a couple years ago and would like to install it. It has no bolt holes. Does anyone know if it is difficult getting the square holes punched in? Otherwise I will have to use bolts without the square necks and their heads look likely to chafe.

Ken

Craig Illman · June 14, 2008, 07:57:52 PM

Ken - On my old bow roller, after seventeen years, the pan head bolts were just fine. I just took advantage of the square holes to use carriage bolts instead. It would probably depend on whether you had a windlass and the chain abraided the heads as it passed over them.

Craig

ken003 · June 15, 2008, 06:47:50 AM

Thanks Craig, I will look around and see what other rollers are held on with and not worry so much about chafing. Sometimes I get a little too paranoid about these things.

Ken

Jim Price · June 15, 2008, 09:33:58 AM

I installed the longer bow roller from Catalina Direct couple of years ago after I was hit on the orginal roller. I filled all the orginal holes with white epoxy and drilled all new holes (by the way, even though the roller was bent, there were no stress cracks around any of the bold holes!!). The longer roller does have more holes. Main thing I wanted the longer roller for was to be able to 1), move a little further out from bow, and mainly 2), be able to set the roller deeper in the "slot". This provided more coverage over the fiberglass toward the back of the anchor to eliminate chipping from the anchor and chain and makes the installaion much more "beefer" by setting it deeper.

I also used SS carriage bolts - made intallion MUCH easier - only needed to torque the nuts. Also used bed of 4200.

Two additional points, I did tie string to tools (and subseqeuently dropped them) and watch out for the old backling plate - it can make it's way to the deep dark bow depths when you are takinng off the old roller. I found mine about a year later.