Sea Screw SS tube and fittings

[pcatterall]

Thanks for your advice on my DIY pushpit modifications. I ordered 25mm pipe and fittings from Sea Screw and they arrived today.

The fittings feel quite loose on the tube. I wonder if I should pack the tube a bit ( just some tape perhaps?)

I think I will drill a shallow ‘counter sunk’ hole for the 6mm grub screw to locate into and possibly something like LokTight to ensure the screw doesnt work loose.

One forumite suggested drilling right through and using a bolt, would this be a better idea?

 

[Tradewinds]

I drilled through the grub screw hole on the fitting (I think 4.5/5mm for the 6mm thread) and through the adjacent tube wall to ensure the grub screw would penetrate & hold the tube.

Needless to say the tightened grub screw wasn't quite tight enough (or quite in the right place) and when I 'accidentally sat' on the rail the whole lot came apart.

Of course, I hadn't done it properly in the first instance.

Drilling right through with a bolt is failsafe (& ugly).

Just my 2p.

PS: At sea it could have been disastrous.

 

[vyv_cox]

It's a very long time since my boat was in UK, so replacement stanchions bought in Europe are all metric, sloppy in Imperial bases. I find that one turn of gaffer tape takes up the slack reasonably well.

My stern arch is constructed from a mixture of USA, UK and European tube and fittings, sometimes inconvenient when it comes to adjustment, as some grub screws are metric and some Imperial, but I find that the grub screws are sufficient to keep it all rigid. If necessary, dimple the indent in the tube with a drill but I have never needed to drill right through.

 

[Jabs]

1) Check that you haven't got metric tube in imperial fittings.

2) Dimple the grub screw location with a centre punch!

Good luck

Tony

 

[2copplane]

I would consider removing the grub screw and replace with a rivet.

 

[martinaskey]

I created a new pushpit using Sea Screw tube and fittings a few years ago. I thought the fit was a little slack but just went ahead and tightened the grub screws hard. Worked perfectly, no problems. I would wonder if the rivet / bolt solutions would result in annoying movement / rattles as it wouldn't be possible to tighten them so the tube is clamped because the casting can't be compressed. If the mechanical security of a rivet is preferred then using thick epoxy as a filler might help although it will fail eventually and may be messy.

 

[PCUK]

Slap some Sikaflex around the tubes before inserting into the fittings. Once cured they won't move again