Blind fly bridge

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SIBERNUT

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Nov 11, 2022
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820
Strikes again!
Preparing to paint, removing hand rails on outside of bridge.
Surprise! They are machine screws, not wood screws. And of course half of them spin - inside the bridge side with no access. Well the handrails are off, but I have no idea how to put them back on. Past experience says wood inside is random at best. So before I resort to 10 " galvanized lag bolts thru the side I could use some suggestions.........

Please.......?
 
Not knowing the design of your flybridge - Just throwing it out there that you might cut strategic access panels.
 
Went thru this when I bolted the arch on inside. An access hole cut to do that revealed there are random *vertical* wood members inside it, and access is limited to maybe 18" fore & aft for each hole. Seriously, the manufacturer must have put the rails on before installing the bridge.
 
Cmon guys, SOMEBODY must have run into stuff like this before. 8" SS bolts all the way thru the side w acorn nuts ?
 
Garelick makes a stainless steel toggle with a long nylon pull back for holding it tight while you start a bolt. Bigger ones are used for blind connection of seat pedestals.
They are ridiculously expensive.
 
I don’t fully understand your issue so I maybe sending you down a dead end. Try researching nut inserts.
 
SIBERNUT said:
Strikes again!
Preparing to paint, removing hand rails on outside of bridge.
Surprise! They are machine screws, not wood screws. And of course half of them spin - inside the bridge side with no access. Well the handrails are off, but I have no idea how to put them back on. Past experience says wood inside is random at best. So before I resort to 10 " galvanized lag bolts thru the side I could use some suggestions.........

Please.......?
Click to expand...
I feel your pain as I have encountered this problem on numerous projects. I have found that the best solution is a thing they call "nutserts". They are available in different sizes and thread pitch and it is, basically, installing a threaded hole in place of the void left by the old machine screw and nut. It is installed much the same as a "pop rivet" and kits are readily available on-line. They are even available in stainless steel. You simply enlarge the existing hole to fit the nutsert and install it with the tool. If you use an antisieze compound on the fasteners when you install them you shouldn't have any problems removing them down the road for your next paint job.
 
SIBERNUT said:
Strikes again!
Preparing to paint, removing hand rails on outside of bridge.
Surprise! They are machine screws, not wood screws. And of course half of them spin - inside the bridge side with no access. Well the handrails are off, but I have no idea how to put them back on. Past experience says wood inside is random at best. So before I resort to 10 " galvanized lag bolts thru the side I could use some suggestions.........

Please.......?
Click to expand...
Sooner or later deck hardware needs maintenance and the problem of unsecured inaccessible nuts is aggravating.

I'm dealing with the problem on a boat I'm rehabbing. The solution I've chosen is stainless steel tee-nuts embedded in resin covered plywood-backing that's bonded to the underside of the fiberglass deck. The plywood has the same outline as the tee-nut, i.e. a small piece of backing.

The cabin top also has rails and to get to these nuts, I'm going to have to cut holes in the cabin inner ceiling, remove the topside rail stanchion nuts and replace them with the embedded-in-plywood tee-nuts bonded to the bottom of the outside cabin top fiberglass. Then, of course, patch the inside ceiling access holes.

I regularly curse this boat's designers.
 
TKS, I have been searching them. Ads on eBay say " stainless,galvanized, carbon steel" and I get no answer when I ask if the insert is SS. Tricky little foreign devils, gotta watch them ! Paint first , worry about mounting later.
 
Jack nuts or petal nuts are good. But sellers from Asia will not answer if the nut is SS
 
IMG_0142.jpeg
IMG_0134.jpeg
IMG_0142.jpegIMG_0134.jpegThe Garelick toggle bolts previously mentioned are excellent for your application. Another way to go would be Wellnuts. They are rubber plugs with embedded nuts that expand when you tighten them. I have had great luck installing canvas snaps with Wellnuts.
 
mrfixit48 said:
Petal nuts have a very small thread area and may not be suitable for supporting the rail. Nutserts have a much larger threaded area and would be more a substantial mount.
Click to expand...
Whatever you decide, a good antiseize compound applied to the fasteners at install will dramatically improve your chances of avoiding this problem next time.
 
I have bought threaded inserts at Fastenal. They have some in S/S. I use epoxy when I insert them into the glass l. Just don’t get it inside on the threads.
 
TKS but at 78 I'm not planning a "next time".
The complication is that I have no , nada, zero idea what's inside. Could be solid wood, random wood , panda poop, whatever. There is NO access fwd or aft and the one 6," hole I cut only gives visual for a foot or so. I don't even know if I can get a jack nut in where the screws came off. YET.......
 
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