Help needed removing swim platform from 1988 Carver 3807 Aft Cabin

[saxart]

Hello-
New guy with a question that hopefully someone here has some experience with.

The swim platform on our '88 3807 is soft with rot and needs repair work. It is held on with 6 plates that bolt through the stern of the boat. I can access two of these plates by crawling down under the aft-cabin bed, but the architecture of the boat does not easily allow me to get to the other 4 plates.

Does anyone here have experience removing this swim platform and could shed some light on how this would be accomplished?

Thanks!

 

[Bayou Dave]

Re: Help needed removing swim platform from 1988 Carver 3807 Aft Cabin

Welcome to iboats!! If you post some photos of the swim platform it would really help.
If you are only removing it to repair/replace it there may be bolts/screws attaching the brackets to the underside of the platform. Remove them and lift off the platform, leaving the brackets attached to the transom.

 

[Georgesalmon]

Re: Help needed removing swim platform from 1988 Carver 3807 Aft Cabin

I worked at Carver around that time. Can't you take the swim platform off the brackets? Leave the brackets on the boat. The brackets were installed before the aft cabin liner was put in.

 

[saxart]

Re: Help needed removing swim platform from 1988 Carver 3807 Aft Cabin

I worked at Carver around that time. Can't you take the swim platform off the brackets? Leave the brackets on the boat. The brackets were installed before the aft cabin liner was put in.

Thanks so much for the replies...

I'll explain a bit better because I see that I wasn't very clear. There are two things holding the swim platform on the boat.
1) Long stainless steel stand-offs that go from below the waterline on hull to the outer edge, under the platform. These are easy. I'll leave them as is and just unbolt them where they attach to the outer edge of the swim platform.

2) Up under the swim platform there are 6 plates, each a bit bigger than a playing card. Each plate has 3 bolts going through them. These bolts protrude through the edge of the swim platform and through the hull. These basically clamp the swim platform to the hull. If I look at the inside of the hull under the bed in the aft cabin, I see those bolts protruding through the hull with a large nylock nut on each bolt. I'm going to have to get a wrench on the nuts on the INSIDE of the hull while someone turns a wrench on the outside of the hull to remove (and later reinstall) the swim platform. The problem is I can only get to maybe 2 or 3 of these plates, the remainder of them are 'buried" up under the inner hull liner. I could probably cut the bolts (in about 3 years!) with a saws-all, but then I wouldn't be able to bolt the platform back on once it's repaired anyway.

At this point, I'm thinking since I can't roll the entire boat upside down, I may end up having to repair the swim platform while it's installed on the boat! LOL

Thanks again for your time.

 

[Bayou Dave]

Re: Help needed removing swim platform from 1988 Carver 3807 Aft Cabin

If you look at the plate it should be bent at 90 degrees. One part is bolted to the hull and the other part is right under the swim platform and has screws going into the platform. On mine all I did was remove those screws and the stand off bracket screws. Then just lifted the platform off of the brackets. you just need to put yourself upside down, not the boat. LOL

 

[saxart]

Re: Help needed removing swim platform from 1988 Carver 3807 Aft Cabin

If you look at the plate it should be bent at 90 degrees. One part is bolted to the hull and the other part is right under the swim platform and has screws going into the platform. On mine all I did was remove those screws and the stand off bracket screws. Then just lifted the platform off of the brackets. you just need to put yourself upside down, not the boat. LOL

Nope, these are different. These 'plates' are flat and merely serve as backing plates, kind of like a giant washer to keep the bolts from pulling through the hull. Imagine if you have the face of a 2X6 and you lay another 2X6 right over the top of it, drill a hole through both boards, and use bolts and washers to hold them together. In this example, one of the 2X6's is the HULL, and the other 2X6 is the SWIM PLATFORM. This thing is just simply through-bolted to the hull. No 90deg brackets. I just can't get to the nylock nuts on the inside of the hull. except for the first six. There another 12 bolts that have ZERO access to their backsides.

At this point I'm thinking of leaving the swim platform on the boat and just doing all of the work above me from a stool below. :grumpy:

 

[Bayou Dave]

Re: Help needed removing swim platform from 1988 Carver 3807 Aft Cabin

At this point I'm thinking of leaving the swim platform on the boat and just doing all of the work above me from a stool below. :grumpy:[/QUOTE]


Sounds like that is your only alternative. Have fun! lol