broken bolts on swimplatform

[jeff]

hey guys i noticed two of the support rods for the swimplatform draging behind the boat, they had broken off of the transom im thinking it was from me driving in some big waves yesterday and the wave constant slamming upward into the "extended swimplatform" that caused it to snap the screws,,,,,so i got to the calm water jumped over with mask on and noticed the screws holding the two rods on the port side had snapped leaving two broken screws in the holes were just the tops of the screws broke off , so i go to unscrew one thats still holding the other two and as soon as i started to unscrew it with a socket that broke to it was badly coroded,, just the head of the screw broke off,,,,, my question is, can i fill those holes,,and move the base of the rods over a fraction and create new holes in the transom to refit these rods

thanks guys

[jeff]

im wandering whats behind there, in the transom, that the screws grip to?

[pascavone]

that typical for a fiberglass screw job......

the way to do it right, is to chip out the fiberglass around the broken screw deep enough you get vise grips on the broken screw and back it out.

then put new stainless screw back, after your patch the gel coat with a $30 repair kit.

The screw as basically embedded into the fiberglass and marine plywood transom.

Less holes in your boat is always best......

[shrew]

The extended bracket is screwed, not through bolted?? I'd double check the inside first. You might find washers and nuts and might be able to knock them through. my platform is completely molded, so there are no brackets and bolts at all. I'm just saying double-check. If it it bolted, check that the brackets were actually supposed to be screwed and not bolted. Might be a simple installation problem.

[jeff]

thank you guys so much

[ss3964spd]

Jeff,

If yours is similar to mine - and I'm guessing it is, the extended platform is bolted to the hull with some beefy bolts where the platform meets the hull, and then the stainless brackets - just support arms really, screw to the bottom of the platform farther out from the hull and then extend down to the lower portion of the transom. The support arms on mine are secured to the transom and under side of the platform with simple phillips pan head stainless screws. And they ain't very big neither, and they ain't thru-bolted.

The good news is this; the transom is darn thick - least it is on my 2004 model year 2400 SC3 - between 2.5 and 3 inches. Given that the supports on mine - and there's only two, are still intact I wouldn't have any reservations about doing as you said; moving the transom end an inch or so to the side of the broken screw, re-drilling, and running another screw in. What I would do, though, is use a larger diameter screw. Length into the transom isn't what you need; the loads on the platform aren't trying to pull the screws out - they are trying to shear it off (which they apparently did). 1.5 to 1.75 in length ought to do just fine and ensure you'd don't go all the way through. Fill the hole with 4200, put some 4200 on the threads, make a circle of 4200 around the hole, drive it in, wipe off excess.

Dan

[jeff]

thanks dan,, that is exactly what i will do

thank you