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Filling Old Holes from Screw Fasteners
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ContinuousWave Whaler Moderated Discussion Areas
ContinuousWave: Whaler Repairs/Mods
Filling Old Holes from Screw Fasteners
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| Author | Topic: Filling Old Holes from Screw Fasteners |
| rivarat |
posted 10-10-2012 06:20 PM ET (US)  
[H]i. [The author begins his narrative by telling us that he is the] new owner of an old boat, [a] 1987 MONTAUK 17, [and the author continues by telling us he is] getting it ready for storage[.] [I] removed the battery, which is [s]towed in the stern of the boat next to the junction box for the lights, and [I] noticed a small, 1/4-inch or so, hole in the liner on the side, up about an inch or so from the floor. [The hole in the deck] looks like it has always been there. [W]hat may it be for[?] [Do readers have] any ideas?--glenn |
| Tom W Clark |
posted 10-10-2012 06:29 PM ET (US)
Probably for a screw. |
| L H G |
posted 10-10-2012 07:56 PM ET (US)
Definitely not factory. Probably from something a rigging dealer or previous owner did. I would fill and repair it. |
| jimh |
posted 10-10-2012 08:59 PM ET (US)
A small hole in the deck or bulwarks might be a hole for a missing screw fastener. A simple way to fill the hole is to use a screw fastener. Use a stainless steel self-tapping screw with a flat or oval head and a dress washer, and install the screw fastener in the hole. If you want, add a bit of sealant on the threads of the screw as you install it. You can do this at any time, not just when you are getting it ready for storage. It is hard to say what the screw fastener might have held in place originally. |
| jimh |
posted 10-10-2012 09:19 PM ET (US)
On further reflection, I have to say a hole of 0.25-inch diameter is a darn big hole for a screw fastener, and I would be suspicious of it. Usually the largest screw fasteners used to attach something to the laminate on a Boston Whaler boat are #8 or perhaps #10. The holes for such a screw fastener are usually much smaller than 0.25-ichh diameter. Accordingly, I want to change my recommendation. Fill the 0.25-inch diameter hole with a small wooden plug. Use epoxy as an adhesive and sealant for the wooden plug, and push the plug below the surface of the laminate. Then drill a small pilot hole for a #6 screw. Use a #6 screw and a dress washer to cover the hole. This should hide the plug and epoxy repair. |
| rivarat |
posted 10-11-2012 06:46 AM ET (US)
hi everyone and thanks for the tips. i will certainly mix up some epoxy and make the hole go away. my concern is whether a hole in that location is a sign that the boat is or was wet inside. would a hole ever be put in this location to drain a boat(makes no sense to me as it is so high) and also if water got IN through this hole where would it end up? regards glenn |
| Tom W Clark |
posted 10-11-2012 10:46 AM ET (US)
A hole in that location was probably for a screw to secure the wiring running from the battery to the junction box. In some years, Whaler put those screw holes there at the factory. If the hole is larger and cleaner than a mere screw hole for a self-tapping screw, then it was probably used for a well-nut which is sometimes used in a thin skin here there is concern about a self-tapping screw achieving enough grip. The hole certainly is not a drain hole. Water getting in the hole will cause no harm as it is not submerged or under pressure. Don't worry about it. Either way, if you want to fill the hole, do not put a wooden dowel or plug in it; the hull is thin fiberglass skin there and foam beyond. A dowel or plug will serve no purpose and will make the repair less reliable. Follow Whaler's advice for repairing this small hole: http://continuouswave.com/whaler/reference/repairInstructions.html |
| jimh |
posted 10-11-2012 10:57 PM ET (US)
The wood plug serves the purpose of holding the threads of the screw that will be installed, per my recommendation. If you are going to just fill the hole with resin and try to blend in the repair, you don't need the wood filler. |
| Tom W Clark |
posted 10-12-2012 09:47 AM ET (US)
If you do not want to screw a fastener directly to the thin laminate of a Whaler hull, use a Well-nut or form an epoxy "puck" behind the laminate to receive the screw. I do not recommend gluing a wooden plug into the foam core of a Whaler. Glueing a wooden plug into the foam of the hull and thinking a screw will achieve a good bit into it is folly. |
| jharrell |
posted 10-12-2012 10:35 AM ET (US)
I have a similar hole in my Montauk 17, it was used for a wire strap running from bilge to junction box for bow light and anchor light. I have not filled it yet but I need to, water tends to pool in that back corner when washing the boat out and some gets in there, although I would imagine the foam in there prevents much intrusion. You can see it here in the lower right corner before and after I moved the batteries to the console and re-did all the wiring on the boat: https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/ t6MatdQwK8kP9Vcju8GLCJNyNflSr_BDos3tKmqm-pg?feat=directlink https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/ pSAiAK0FtiRsf8DUIcvG6JNyNflSr_BDos3tKmqm-pg?feat=directlink |
| rivarat |
posted 10-15-2012 11:06 AM ET (US)
Bingo...those are the same holes in the same places, your boat must have been rigged at the same dealer as mine. thanks again to everyone for the replies, i'm sure this is not the last time you'll hear from me! |
| jimh |
posted 10-15-2012 08:27 PM ET (US)
If you decide to take Tom's advice over mine--which I don't recommend you do--be very careful in creating a large pool of pure resin inside the laminate of the hull. The curing of an epoxy resin is exothermic and can generate a surprising amount of heat . In any case, with either method you will create a material below the top layer of the laminate and gelcoat which will provide a layer for the screw fastener to obtain purchase. Apparently Tom thinks that if this layer is wood something awful will happen. I have to point out that Boston Whaler imbeds wood reinforcement in the hull in many locations for the purpose of strengthening the hull and also to provide a material to hold screw fasteners. This is precisely the method I recommend to you, to use a bit of wood as a material inside the hull to hold a small #6 screw which will cover the original hole. Tom seems to argue against this and says to use resin. This is curious because it goes completely opposite to the methods of Boston Whaler. Where Boston Whaler wanted a surface to hold a screw they used wood, not resin. If you must use resin, then be sure to not use pure resin, but instead use a resin that has been mixed with a filler to thicken it. This will help prevent too much heat generation in the curing process and also make the resin "puck" easier to tap into with a screw fastener. If you use a soft pine dowel rod to make the wooden insert for the screw you should not have to worry about the grain orientation. Once the wood is saturated with resin its strength is not much different in any direction, with the grain or across the grain. The soft pine dowel plug with a liberal coating of resin will make a perfect material to hold a #6 self-tapping screw, with the finish washer that will hide the original hole rather nicely. If the hole is really not 0.25-inch in diameter, you can just fill it with some sealant. Let the sealant cure, and then insert the self-tapping screw. The screw just needs enough purchase to hold itself and the finish washer in place. In might turn out that you end up re-using the hole to hold a cable clamp or something else associated with the rigging. |
| Tom W Clark |
posted 10-17-2012 11:39 PM ET (US)
The problem you will have trying to glue a short section of dowel to the foam core of the Whaler hull is that as soon as you try to drive a screw into the short section of dowel, it will break free of the foam and spin with the screw thus preventing it from drawing tight to the hull. Even if you use bung or plug of wood which would put the wood's grain in the correct orientation for the threads of a screw to grip, the torsion on the bung will be too great and ti will break free. Also, the relatively soft foam will not resist the expanding forces of a screw being driven into it thus splitting it. This problem will be even greater if you use a dowel instead of a bung. I'd just use a Well-nut or an epoxy plug, which will stay in place. |
| L H G |
posted 10-18-2012 01:13 AM ET (US)
Two years ago, I filled in several holes just as described by Rivarat, drilled into the foam areas of the sidewalls of the boat for various owner installed wires, tubes, etc. I simply used a 45 degree bevel grinder bit, countersunk each hole so that it had a beveled, rough surface, and rough sanded the surrounding gelcoat. Then using a putty knife, filled each hole flush with Evercoat Formula 27 polyester based paste (white in color). After sanding flush with #220, then ground out a reveal to recieve color matched gelcoat. Sanded and buffed, the holes are gone, with no evidence they were ever there. Two years later, the same result. Regarding a wood plug, Jim's advice is defective. In non-skid areas where old screw holes have to be filled, gelcoat repair is almost impossible, and I have discovered a flat head same size ss screw, set flush, looks and works best as a filler. I have used this many times, and in areas of the non-skid where there is no wood under the skin. Grind out the countersink to proper head diameter, fill hole with clear Life-Seal, and install screw. |
| jimh |
posted 10-18-2012 08:16 AM ET (US)
Larry you wound me. My advice was the same as yours: fill the hole with a screw and dress washer. I only suggested the soft pine wood filler if the hole were too large to hold the threads of a #6 screw. The new screw fastener will need material to screw into. When installing a screw you must make a pilot hole, no matter if screwing into wood, polyester, or epoxy. If you try to drive a screw into a small piece of wood without a pilot hole you often will split the wood. If you try to drive a screw into a plug of resin without a proper pilot hole you will have problems, too. The wood filler in this case is assumed to be surrounded resin and foam. If you have a plug cutter, feel free to cut a plug, but with a soft pine dowel I don't think it will be a problem. I am taking about a dowel that is only 0.25-inch in diameter or perhaps slightly larger. Its just a bit more wood than the old trick of stuffing some wooden match sticks in a hole to give a new screw something to bite into. By the way, I still use that method. I have a soft old pine board, I take a knife, and I shave off some little strips of wood. If there is a screw that is loose and not holding in the laminate, I remove the screw, push a few strips of the pine board shavings into the hole, and reinstall the screw. This works very well as long as the hole has not been enlarged too much. |
| jimh |
posted 10-18-2012 08:59 AM ET (US)
Moved to REPAIRS/MODS. |
| M Gould |
posted 10-18-2012 10:41 AM ET (US)
A local boat mechanic also suggested using toothpicks (similar to Jim's method) or using clipped pieces of a zip-tie, cut to length of the depth of the hole. These are only for screws that aren't grabbing well. The zip-tie method could be used as a temporary repair, and would not absorb water. |
| outragesteve |
posted 10-18-2012 02:24 PM ET (US)
I have filled a few holes in my boat, using the finishing washer method. Drill out the hole, somewhat larger than the screw you want to use: (#6, #8, etc) Mix up some epoxy resin with thickening material. Using a syringe, inject the resin into the hole, and insert the screw/washer. When the resin cures, the screw is going nowhere and it looks clean! Good luck |
| Binkster |
posted 10-19-2012 04:57 PM ET (US)
Who wants to see unused screws attached to a boat? rich |
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