posted 12-17-2007 01:47 AM ET (US)        

However I have gotten to the real “bugger”, the bow T-base. I started the entire bow repair because of some gelcoat cracking around the T-base. (After eying the cracks I figured, better get it done now than deal with it in the summer.) Oddly enough the cracks showed sings of weeping something. While I couldn’t figure out how and why this would happen at such a high location on the boat. I suspected the metal underneath was corroding enough to cause the weeping up/down the screws. - As expected the screws were totally corroded in place, and had to be drilled out. (Not what I wanted to do, but after repeated oiling and waiting (2 weeks); I gave up.)

After a couple of exploratory holes I found that the glass was good and the cracking was limited to gelcoat. (The metal insert was ok too, meaning it was still there and not a corroded mess. I figure the original problem was stress cracks, but the pattern made no sense, and the weeping made me scratch my head. So I figure I had a combination of everything. (Hopefully my repair will cover all the bases.)

I was going to perform a similar repair to “remor1”, threaded SS inserts glassed/epoxied in place.

Anyone have any better suggestions on dealing with the embedded metal T-base? I was going to dremel out the old screws and bore a hole deep enough for the SS female inserts (and to remove the corroded metal). All the work will be hidden under the T-base plate. I am hoping on minimal exposed gelcoat work, just 2 or 3 cracks (~1-2”).