Screws in Wooden Masts

Petronella

Petronella

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Scarborough Marina, Australia
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OK, So, the wooden masts have come down, stripped of their white paint, minor repairs made and eight coats of two-part polyurethane primer, undercoat and topcoat applied.

Now it's time to refix the 'furniture' - mast track, steps, cleats and winches. The holes left from their previous positions remain - apparently in good condition. Is it just a case of reusing these holes (too late to drill new ones now) as long as the screws all sit tightly or should I bed them in something or partially fill the holes first?

Thanks in advance for what are sure to be differing views!
 
If the holes are good just reuse themvarious strategies for keeping moisture out are recommended, for example dipping each screw in varnish or paint before inserting, or squirting a dab of non-setting mastic into the hole etc. All good advice but as usual YMMV.
 
WestSystem (the epoxy people) recommend squirting (with a syringe) neat epoxy into the screw hole and then working the screw in and out a few times to coat the hole. Then, when the epoxy is gelling remove the screw. Once set apply the hardware as normal.

http://www.westsystem.com/ss/bonding-hardware/
 
Last edited by a moderator:
This may be relevant, my surveyor was very specific about using through bolts rather than screws holding cleats or winches to my wooden mast.
He had apparently been called in after a cleat had pulled out (with screws) that had been holding someone up the mast, with an obvious and very unfortunate result.
 
Thanks

Thanks all.

Since they all seem pretty secure to me I'm going to go with the mastic approach (just to keep the moisture out). If any do turn out to be slightly loose when I tighten up then I'll use the WestEpoxy trick (though I do want to be able to get the screws out again if required).

Hopefully that should do the business and we'll be back on the water soon for another lovely Aegean summer.
 
Petronella said:
Thanks all.

Since they all seem pretty secure to me I'm going to go with the mastic approach (just to keep the moisture out). If any do turn out to be slightly loose when I tighten up then I'll use the WestEpoxy trick (though I do want to be able to get the screws out again if required).

Hopefully that should do the business and we'll be back on the water soon for another lovely Aegean summer.
Click to expand...

Just as an aside, all you need to do to remove a screw which has been epoxied in, is heat the screw head with a soldering iron, the epoxy will let go at 100c.
Another aside, if you arent, I always use bronze screws for this job, as they will never rust and leave rusty stains, even 316 stainless sometimes rusts!
 
Petronella said:
Thanks all.

Since they all seem pretty secure to me I'm going to go with the mastic approach (just to keep the moisture out). If any do turn out to be slightly loose when I tighten up then I'll use the WestEpoxy trick (though I do want to be able to get the screws out again if required).

Hopefully that should do the business and we'll be back on the water soon for another lovely Aegean summer.
Click to expand...

If you really want to make it easy to remove fastenings then tap them after the epoxy has gone off with machine screws (preferably whitworth).
 
Update on mast refurbishment.

Mast tracks now re-applied, screws tightened and mastic applied to seal. By turning as hard as I could just a few of the screws continued to turn. The addition of a single piece of bamboo kebab stick in each hole solved the problem completely. So much so that I now have blisters on my hands from tighening up hard nearly 300 screws.

Many thanks to all for your advice.
 
Petronella said:
Update on mast refurbishment.

Mast tracks now re-applied, screws tightened and mastic applied to seal. By turning as hard as I could just a few of the screws continued to turn. The addition of a single piece of bamboo kebab stick in each hole solved the problem completely. So much so that I now have blisters on my hands from tighening up hard nearly 300 screws.

Many thanks to all for your advice.
Click to expand...
Suggest you get a rechargeable screwdriver/drill
 
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