Saildrive hull plate

[chrisdcb]

I recently replaced the diaphragm on my MS25S. Removing the bolts on the ring proved more difficult than I might have wished. All the bolts galled to some extent and a couple snapped off in the ring buried in the hull. I re-tapped one fairly successfully, but the last bolt proved more difficult.

Has anyone attempted to repair or replace the ring buried in the hull?

I could get a sizeable bit of tapped stainless, dig a nice big hole (say 35mm dia) and glass it back in, but I am not sure how sound the repair would be...

Should I get a whole new plate?

 

[Paul1962]

Can you not drill it out and tap a new thread one size up?

 

[chrisdcb]

Fair point, might do that. The thread that I managed to tap was offset from the original bolt, so I am relying on the remains of the galled bolt to hold everything together. I guess going up 2mm would make a better job of it. Thanks for the tip.

 

[SvenH]

Do a search for helicoil before drilling one size up.