posted 06-28-2003 12:13 PM ET (US)        

I'm guessing here, buy it appears the previous owner, when replacing some of the screws that hold this cover in place, used a powered screwdriver and three of the screws were forced down below the top of the cover.
These screws were pulled down 1/4 to 3/8 inch lower than they should have been.

I am planning to repair these holes but I have questions regarding this. From looking at the photos in Cetacea, Page 70, particularly 70-07,10,11,12,12b,13 and 14, I have concluded that the shelf, which supports the cover, has wood inside of it for the screws to be screwed into.

When the screws mentioned before were driven in deeper than required, they also penetrated the wood in this shelf deeper. When I repair this cover I plan to use screws that are longer than the originals because the originals will then be too short. A question I have is how much wood is encapsulated in the shelf; is there enough that I could use a screw that is 1/2 inch longer, and not go through the encapsulated wood in the shelf?

Another question that I have is how would you place some sort of sealing compound around the screw holes into this shelf? I don't want to have a place where the water that gets into this area could cause rot to form in the wood encapsulated in the shelf.

When repairing the holes I was planning to use some epoxy to rebuild them and then gel coat the surface area where the head of the screw would come to. Do you feel that this could be done without the epoxy running into the joint between the shelf and the cover? In other words, I would not want to cause the cover and the shelf to bond together if the epoxy were to enter the joint between the two.

Any help you could offer will be very much appreciated.

posted 06-28-2003 03:15 PM ET (US)            

That's my plan. I certainly don't want to take my T-Top and my leaning post, which is part of the T-Top, off just to repair three holes. I'm thinking I could leave some longer screws (or rods), that would be coated with a release agent, in the holes. Then I would insert some epoxy, that is mixed with filler, into the holes. After the epoxy is set up I would remove the screws/rods. If you have any other suggestion I would appreciate it.

posted 07-01-2003 11:19 AM ET (US)            

Thanks for any help.