Removing stanchions

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Does anyone have any tips about removing ageing stanchions from their bases ?

They are on an oldish Westerly and I assume are made from aluminium or an alloy of some type. The stanchions themselves are corroded into the base and I want to try to avoid removing the bases if possible.

Is there anything I could apply to loosen the corrosion (penetrating oils etc) or would heating the bases help ?

Any help gratefully accepted :)
 
Try ACF-50

Won't happen overnight (keep applying for a few days) but it's very effective on corroded aluminium.

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saumur2 said:
Does anyone have any tips about removing ageing stanchions from their bases ?

They are on an oldish Westerly and I assume are made from aluminium or an alloy of some type. The stanchions themselves are corroded into the base and I want to try to avoid removing the bases if possible.

Is there anything I could apply to loosen the corrosion (penetrating oils etc) or would heating the bases help ?

Any help gratefully accepted :)
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Well, if they are Aluminium stanchions in aluminium bases bolted to the toerail with stainless screws and bolted through the deck, just like my Moody 33, then it's practically impossible to remove the stanchion without destroying the base. New bases are supplied with a plastic liner between the post and the base. The reason they corrode solid is aluminium post in aluminium base with stainless bolts & split pins continually washed with salt water = CORROSION in a big way. The only way to remove the post is to destroy the base(probably damaging the post in the process) using a combination of drilling/hammering/disc cutter & any other method you can think of. Liquids and heat I found were not any good. The other problem is access to the nuts inside under the deck, as soon as you turn them the bolt turns as well, sometimes you are lucky and you can get them off. I found I had to drill out the countersunk screws which hold the bases to the toerail.
If you are lucky you'll get the stanchion complete with base off in one piece, if not they will both be damaged beyond repair.
I found it took anything from ½ hr to 4 hours for each stanchion. It took two winters to complete the job.
Bases and stanchions still available from chandlers & internet & ebay. Not cheap if bought from chandlers. Negotiate to get a good deal. Use dichromate paste when reassembling to prevent corrosion between stainless & aluminium.
Goos Luck! If you need more info pm me.
 
saumur2 said:
Does anyone have any tips about removing ageing stanchions from their bases ?

They are on an oldish Westerly and I assume are made from aluminium or an alloy of some type. The stanchions themselves are corroded into the base and I want to try to avoid removing the bases if possible.

Is there anything I could apply to loosen the corrosion (penetrating oils etc) or would heating the bases help ?

Any help gratefully accepted :)
Click to expand...

If all the snake oils fail then I saw one friend cut the stanchions off just above the base and then carefully cut a vertical slit in the trapped bit of stanchion using a jig saw (Blade that cuts on downward stroke) they then can be closed a wee bit and out they pop. He had to replace all on a Storm for coding.
 
MOODY 40 CC circa 1984

When I acquired the above around 8 of the stanchion bases had cracked badly splitting the bases apart with only the corrosion & guard wires holding them in place, the bases had also fused to the toe rail. The only way I could remove them was to drill out the screws, chisel the bases away from the toerails. I made such a mess I eventually ground off as much as possible of the stanchion & re-positioned the new base next to the old one. Not very pretty.
Stearman65
 
stearman65 said:
When I acquired the above around 8 of the stanchion bases had cracked badly splitting the bases apart with only the corrosion & guard wires holding them in place, the bases had also fused to the toe rail. The only way I could remove them was to drill out the screws, chisel the bases away from the toerails. I made such a mess I eventually ground off as much as possible of the stanchion & re-positioned the new base next to the old one. Not very pretty.
Stearman65
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It is best to try and preserve the Westerly ones as the securing bolts may be inaccessible and glassed in !!!
 
Bilgediver said:
It is best to try and preserve the Westerly ones as the securing bolts may be inaccessible and glassed in !!!
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The Westerly ones I have met have the nuts glassed over on the inside!

The stanchions may be solid .. if so that rules out cutting them off, slitting and squeezing the remaining bit.

IIRC the triangular bases that Westerly used were YS fittings and I think are still available. From Trafalgar Yacht Services if nowhere else
 
You are wasting time even trying wonder sprays. The products of corrosion on ally are more bulky than the ally metal so as a pipe in socket joint corrodes it gets ever tighter.

Most effective way is to remove stanchion and base, put the stanchion in the vice and leave the blowlamp playing on the base itself for 10 mins or so. Then use a stilson.

The less frustrating way is to junk the lot and replace with new.

Am about to try the same task today, for the third time on my boat. The blowlamp has finally worked before but this time...... we shall see.
 
I replaced four stanchions on my Fulmar.Two of them were solidly stuck to the bases with corrosion.Those wouldn't come apart so the bases had to be unscrewed off.On all Westerlies the nuts will be glassed over which is a nuisance but the fiberglass can be chipped off with a chisel usually after a fair amount of work moving furniture out of the way.On my boat there was a bulkhead right under a stanchion,that was fun.The stanchions are usually solid by the way.
 
Reading all this makes me very glad that the stanchions on my 30+ year old yacht are stainless and fitted into bronze bases.

Removing them did require a little heat, then once cleaned up and a little silicone grease applied, they lift out easily.

Useful if we should ever have to recover a MOB.
 
VicS said:
The stanchions may be solid .. if so that rules out cutting them off, slitting and squeezing the remaining bit.
Click to expand...

I have to swap out a couple of solid stanchions too, might it be possible to cut off the stanchions then drill them out to permit the slitting trick afterwards ? Would mean hand-holding a drill with a 7/8" bit though :eek:

Boo2
 
I had one that broke off, slitting the short bit of tubing left worked quite well.

In the past, using a screwdriver or similar thro the safety wire hole & a blowlamp on the base (VERY CAREFULLY - grp burns rather well!) I have managed to loosen stuck ones, but possibly not as abdly corroded as others on here have experienced.
 
As the stanchions are solid alloy, crop them off flush with the base, centrepunch the centre and drill them out with a series of increasing pilot drills. You will have to invest in a drill of the relevant stanchion diameter assuming you dont have one this size already. If you go slightly off centre it doesnt really matter because you will then have a C shaped remnant that you (should) be able to prize out using heat and tapping with a screwdriver. When you have drilled them all as far as you can you can regrind the drill to a shallow angle to remove as much of the material at the bottom of the stanchion base. Alternatively, as long as you are not too far off centre, just drill them out to an appropriate size and replace with stainless stanchions of a corresponding size.
 
Last time I looked (last year) Trafalgar did indeed do replacements, although they're not solid like the originals.

Nuts on the base of the one I replaced on my oceanlord were fortunately neither glassed over nor particularly inaccessible (for a change)
 
laika said:
Last time I looked (last year) Trafalgar did indeed do replacements, although they're not solid like the originals.

Nuts on the base of the one I replaced on my oceanlord were fortunately neither glassed over nor particularly inaccessible (for a change)
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I have those hollow stanchions.They appear to be strong enough.They're slightly longer than the originals though.
 
crumbs - it sounds like it is going to be a nightmare !

The guard rails/wires between the stanchions have started to 'saw' through the holes in the stanchions (why Westerly did not use stainless ferrules/grommets to protect the stanchions I have no idea). Some of them look like that in just a few more years then they will have sawn through completely. I have had this brainwave of just swopping them over (port to starboard) complete with the guard rails and get another few years before replacement.

In view of all the above I might have to think of another way and find some system to stop the wires sawing through any more.

Thanks for all your input :)
 
saumur2 said:
crumbs - it sounds like it is going to be a nightmare !

The guard rails/wires between the stanchions have started to 'saw' through the holes in the stanchions (why Westerly did not use stainless ferrules/grommets to protect the stanchions I have no idea). Some of them look like that in just a few more years then they will have sawn through completely. I have had this brainwave of just swopping them over (port to starboard) complete with the guard rails and get another few years before replacement.

In view of all the above I might have to think of another way and find some system to stop the wires sawing through any more.

Thanks for all your input :)
Click to expand...

You could remove the securing bolt & try the tommy bar trick to rotate them 180deg. If you do manage to rotate a few, they will last longer & you could clean them off & waterproof grease them. If they don't move, you are no worse off, err unless you break them!
 
I spent many a happy weekend soaking, heating, hammering and twisting to try and get mine off.
Eventually an angle grinder got them all off in a few hours, then started again with new bases and stanchions.
Worst part was getting to the underside to fit the new bolts.
 
Spray oil, soak them, and use blow torch (carefully!!), hopefully, the base will heat up first, expand and release the stanchion post; if all fail, use the grinder.

I, too need to replace 4 stanchions this winter, but luckily, mine are the original stainless steel stanchions and bases. In my case, the bases need to be re-welded or replaced. It will be a tedious job having to undo the nuts from the inside and a philips screwdriver on the outside.
 
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