Broken screw in fiber glass

cons_dad

Cadet
Joined
Apr 6, 2011
Messages
25
While tagging my transducer wire to my transom head broke off. Not enough left to grab with pliers. Any suggestions on how to address?
 

moosehead

Chief Petty Officer
Joined
May 29, 2012
Messages
437
Easiest to grind it down a bit and first fill with marine compound and then gelcoat layer or two.
 

robert graham

Admiral
Joined
Apr 16, 2009
Messages
6,908
How about just move it over about 1/4 - 3/8 inch and put another screw in....leave the old one where it is....
 

moosehead

Chief Petty Officer
Joined
May 29, 2012
Messages
437
Also check into using a transducer mounting plate, it will allow you to move your transducer(s) around a bit without drilling more holes in your boat.
 

smokeonthewater

Fleet Admiral
Joined
Dec 3, 2009
Messages
9,838
I remember seeing a special screw extractor set once... basically a hollow drill bit that would drill around the broken screw and a hollow ez-out that gripped the outside of the screw....


PERSONALLY though, I'd likely abandon the screw n sink another one beside it... seal with 5200 n forget it
 

bruceb58

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Mar 5, 2006
Messages
30,476
And let this be a lesson. Stainless screws are not very strong. make sure your pilot hole is wide enough.
 

dingbat

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Nov 20, 2001
Messages
15,483
Stainless screws are not very strong.

For the most part, you can buy a stainless screw / bolts with the same strength as a steel screw / bolt if need be. In the case of common "commercial" (grade 1 and 2) hardware, your off the shelf stainless counter part is most likely "stronger"

The strength of a material is manipulated by alloying and "working" the material: i.e. annealing, hardening, cold working, etc. Stainless is expensive, and harder to "work" than carbon steels thus the strong preference for carbon steel hardware in commercial applications.
 

bruceb58

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Mar 5, 2006
Messages
30,476
For the most part, you can buy a stainless screw / bolts with the same strength as a steel screw / bolt if need be. In the case of common "commercial" (grade 1 and 2) hardware, your off the shelf stainless counter part is most likely "stronger"
That make sense. I guess the only reason it seems that way is that the only screws I twist the head off are stainless into fiberglass which of course I never use carbon steel for.
 

Saline Marina

Petty Officer 2nd Class
Joined
Sep 9, 2014
Messages
162
The 18-8 or 304 stainless steels are "bare minmum" 18% chromium. Soft stuff and thus crappy for fasteners. 316 stainless steel is a superior material for corrosion resistance but still below what a medium carbon equivalent will do. The 400 series stainless steels offer hardenability for things like knife blades. You can see the equivalent problem if you look in a deck screw catalog like the old McFeelys which had torque-to-fail data for various wood screws.

Stainless machine-threaded fasteners also have the infuriating quality of galling like crazy on stainless steel nuts. Since essentially no oxide coating is present there is a lot of micro-welding going on in an all-stainless steel external and internal thread, eventually bigger "snowballs" jam up the threadform. Anti-seize is the best policy in my book. Or go to titanium fasteners if your wallet is fat enough :)

As far as how to remove a twisted-off fastener, I'd just leave it alone. Excavation of the surrounding area is the only sure way, depending on the depth some miniature carbide burrs (think dental tool) could work but have limited depth. Plus the excavated hole is highly unlikely to be suitable for another fastener, so one must move over to a new location anyway.
 
Last edited:

Volphin

Lieutenant
Joined
Jun 5, 2011
Messages
1,405
I'd remove it with an easy out or similar tool. I hate cheap hardware!
 

dingbat

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Nov 20, 2001
Messages
15,483
The 18-8 or 304 stainless steels are "bare minmum" 18% chromium. Soft stuff and thus crappy for fasteners.
I wasn't going to go down this road again but.....what does a "bare minimum of 18% chromium" have to do with the tensile and yield strength of the material? :confused:
 

dingbat

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Nov 20, 2001
Messages
15,483
I hate cheap hardware!
Nothing cheap about 18-8 or 304 hardware.......

Take a good look at cross section of the SS hardware used in these applications. Most have large nominal diameters coupled with excessively small root diameters. Using the correct size pilot hole and starting the screw squarely in the hole is critical to keeping the torque required to install the screw within the limits of the screw's strength. I'm will to beat 97% of the people couldn't tell you what size pilot hole they drilled, let alone, what size they where supposed to use;)
 

bassman284

Commander
Joined
Jun 24, 2006
Messages
2,839
I wasn't going to go down this road again but.....what does a "bare minimum of 18% chromium" have to do with the tensile and yield strength of the material? :confused:
I don't know. Other than the fact that both tensile and yield are roughly ZERO? Not a lot, I guess. Stainless fasteners by and large suck. SUCK! SUCK! SUCK! I hate 'em.
 
Top