loneYachtsman
New Member
Hello everyone. First post and I'm asking for advice!
Can anyone please advise me the best way to repair my 1987 (British) Hunter Duette. The stem-head fitting plus pulpit is loose and (the surveyor says) would likely fail this season sometime whilst the boat is on her mooring. Therefore it needs a repair before the boat is lifted in.
The 2 uploaded photos show the stemhead fitting and the base of the two forward pulpit legs, from below and above. The stemhead fitting comprises a "cast alloy" (surveyor) chain guide which is (was!) held on by two bolts which pass through the GRP from within the anchor well and screw into threads in the fitting. There is also a third much thinner machine screw, whose head is on the outside and which is secured by a nut within the anchor well; you can see this in the 1st photo in the lower centre of the fitting. Between the GRP and the solid metal fitting is a layer of some hard filler/adhesive and a sheet of plastic (?).
The starboard bolt and central machine screw have broken, and the port bolt is seized. The fitting+pulpit would rotate around the port bolt were it not for the two aft pulpit legs which are secured to the foredeck.
(Fortunately, the forestay is attached to a separate chain plate and is not affected.)
My options seem to be (1) cut (somehow?) or break the remaining bolt, take off the steamhead fitting (+ pulpit) and re-tap new threads in the solid metal, adjacent to the old ones (and drill two new holes for the bolts in the front of the anchor well), or (2) leave the stemhead fitting on the boat but drill two new holes at 45deg clean through the fitting from either side and into the anchor well.
None of this work could I do myself, but will have to get the boatyard engineer in.
Has anyone experience of mending similar failures? What's the best way to proceed? Alternative solutions? Any advice gratefully received! Thanks.
Can anyone please advise me the best way to repair my 1987 (British) Hunter Duette. The stem-head fitting plus pulpit is loose and (the surveyor says) would likely fail this season sometime whilst the boat is on her mooring. Therefore it needs a repair before the boat is lifted in.
The 2 uploaded photos show the stemhead fitting and the base of the two forward pulpit legs, from below and above. The stemhead fitting comprises a "cast alloy" (surveyor) chain guide which is (was!) held on by two bolts which pass through the GRP from within the anchor well and screw into threads in the fitting. There is also a third much thinner machine screw, whose head is on the outside and which is secured by a nut within the anchor well; you can see this in the 1st photo in the lower centre of the fitting. Between the GRP and the solid metal fitting is a layer of some hard filler/adhesive and a sheet of plastic (?).
The starboard bolt and central machine screw have broken, and the port bolt is seized. The fitting+pulpit would rotate around the port bolt were it not for the two aft pulpit legs which are secured to the foredeck.
(Fortunately, the forestay is attached to a separate chain plate and is not affected.)
My options seem to be (1) cut (somehow?) or break the remaining bolt, take off the steamhead fitting (+ pulpit) and re-tap new threads in the solid metal, adjacent to the old ones (and drill two new holes for the bolts in the front of the anchor well), or (2) leave the stemhead fitting on the boat but drill two new holes at 45deg clean through the fitting from either side and into the anchor well.
None of this work could I do myself, but will have to get the boatyard engineer in.
Has anyone experience of mending similar failures? What's the best way to proceed? Alternative solutions? Any advice gratefully received! Thanks.
