Don't boat drunk, fiberglass repair questions

[cchamp]

Hey all! Have a 2003 Stingray that I've been bringing back to life the past 2 years. Over the past 3 weeks I got a ton of stuff done with it (gimbal bearing, shift cable, bellows, impeller, seal carrier, shift bushing, distributor, wires etc). Job was over my head but with the help of people on the Mercruiser forum and some quality youtube videos I got through it. Yesterday finally got my boat out on the water and it ran perfectly. Docked it to go grab the trailer....came back to it and noticed my swim ladder was pretzeled up. Was thinking "what the hell did I do to cause this" when some teenagers came over and told me a pontoon smashed my boat and took off.

Ended up flagging them down and talking to them...the whole lot was absolutely plastered. Gave them the option of giving me a bit of money or calling the cops for insurance and they, probably wisely, gave me a little cash.

Anyway- here I am now. I have a swim ladder that needs fixing (sheered the cap off of a screw that I'll have to find some way to extract) but also two dings in my swim platform that will need to be fixed. From looking at other posts would you all agree that a spectrum gel coat kit is the way to go for dings this size? Unfortunately it looks like they don't have the color match for my year in a 2OZ container. Is there anywhere else to get a color matched gel coat? PIcs attached. Anyway, please don't be a dumbass and boat drunk!

 

[tpenfield]

Evercoat Match 'n Patch' kit. You'll have to figure out how to get a tool in the swim platform cavity to put a new fastener on the ladder.

How much $$$ did you get out of the drunks?

 

[cchamp]

Evercoat Match 'n Patch' kit. You'll have to figure out how to get a tool in the swim platform cavity to put a new fastener on the ladder.

How much $$$ did you get out of the drunks?

150 bucks. No idea if that was enough or not enough....although I can definitely say I'd rather have the boat with no damage than the 150 bucks.

How does the ladder secure? Is there a nut on the bottom of that screw? I was hoping I could just back the sheared screw out (somehow), bend the ladder back into form, and put a new screw in.

 

[Scott Danforth]

remove the other 3 screws. many production boats have an aluminum plate dropped into the mold for reinforcing the swim ladder hardware. some have backing plates and nuts

then try to get the other bolt out. most likely you may be able to get a needle-nose vice grips on them, or dremmel a slot to use a screw driver. dont go too nuts and destroy the bolt. you may have to have a nut tig welded onto the broken bolt to extract

then fix the gel.

then get a new ladder and install.

you may come out of this with only a headache. most of the folding swim ladders are in the $70 - $80 range if you look

 

[cchamp]

remove the other 3 screws. many production boats have an aluminum plate dropped into the mold for reinforcing the swim ladder hardware. some have backing plates and nuts

then try to get the other bolt out. most likely you may be able to get a needle-nose vice grips on them, or dremmel a slot to use a screw driver. dont go too nuts and destroy the bolt. you may have to have a nut tig welded onto the broken bolt to extract

then fix the gel.

then get a new ladder and install.

you may come out of this with only a headache. most of the folding swim ladders are in the $70 - $80 range if you look

That sounds like a good plan. I'm gonna start soaking it in penetrating oil tonight and will attempt to remove this weekend.

 

[Scott Danforth]

no need for penetrating oil, its either going to turn now or not. if it wont turn, the threads are probably galled.

 

[cchamp]

no need for penetrating oil, its either going to turn now or not. if it wont turn, the threads are probably galled.

Boat is 17 years old...even if its not galled it may need a little assistance to get it out. I'll see if it moves easily tonight (boat is stored at a different location than where I'm currently at). Appreciate all of the guidance.

 

[froggy1150]

If you find that you have to use an "easy out " (don't know who named them easy outs cuz usually they are a struggle)... get a left hand twist drill bit. They cut in the ccw rotation and half the time they will bite and pull the offending item out.

 

[cchamp]

So some bad news some good news. Screws will turn but they don't back out when turned. Swim platform/bracket is completely inaccessible, absolutely no way to get to it absent cutting a hole in fiberglass which I'm not gonna do

Good news is with some pliers I was able to bend the ladder back into a functional form. I think with some work I can get the brackets close to new and same for the drop down ladder steps. If I can't get them to function normally they detach at the hinges so I'm assuming I could buy a new ladder and just replace that portion (if I can find an identical size). The 3 screws that remain are snug...but the one corner with the sheared screw will turn if pushed. Question is how best to secure it without being able to remove the screw?

I'm thinking I could screw a coupling nut halfway on top of the existing screw and loctite it, giving me some good threads to fasten something into. Any other ideas?

 

[Mad Props]

if its able to turn, then I would agree with trying an easy out.. they rarely work, but screws usually aren't moving freely when bolt break so you might have a shot.

If not, you're gonna need to drill it out unless you have access to a welder like scott suggested. Stainless is a pain to drill but you'll get thru it. Odds are the bit is going to wander off to the side and end up going thru the fiberglass, at that point, just drill some small holes around the perimeter of the bolt to extract it, then fill the hole with thickened epoxy and redrill the correct sized hole after it sets up...

It should all be covered by the ladder bracket anyways.

 

[Lou C]

I had to replace the nuts on my '88 FW that has the same design, I was able to fab up a piece of alu stock and rivet a couple of toggle bolts to it to make it work. Then slid the alu stock into the tiny space while my patient son lined up the bolts.
What a pain in the butt getting it in there, fixed it about 10 years ago and still good. There may be just enough room between the lower and upper parts of the swim platform.

 

[Scott Danforth]

most likely if its turning and not backing out, there are nuts and a backing plate inside the swim platform. you may need to crawl into the bilge next to the motor with a flashlight and look.

 

[froggy1150]

Here is a " farmers tric" for drilling stainless. 100% pure, freshly squeezed lemon juice. Fyi

 

[cchamp]

most likely if its turning and not backing out, there are nuts and a backing plate inside the swim platform. you may need to crawl into the bilge next to the motor with a flashlight and look.

Thanks, will give it a second look. At first glance it appears the area is 100% closed off by fiberglass and the only way to access it would be to cut holes. Makes me want to try to come up with some other solution, maybe welding a cap on the existing screw or something like it. Going to put some time into it this weekend.

 

[gm280]

I realize you didn't really want to call the police on the guys drunk in their pontoon boat, but what if they did something worst to another boater or themselves? I am not so sure I could have held back from calling the police. As cruel as that may sound, they were boating drunk! That is never ever a good thing... JMHO

 

[cchamp]

I realize you didn't really want to call the police on the guys drunk in their pontoon boat, but what if they did something worst to another boater or themselves? I am not so sure I could have held back from calling the police. As cruel as that may sound, they were boating drunk! That is never ever a good thing... JMHO

Yeah- I agree. Was a bit of a weird spot to be in. It was 8:30 at night and getting dark. I had to be home for something by 9:15 and the ramp is about 30 mins from my house. On top of that there were about 5 guys in various stages of inebriation, some VERY drunk and it was not the type of crew that would handle things gracefully. I was there with my 9 year old daughter, probably would have turned south for me if I had called the police. Just not an ideal situation all the way around.


I took a further look at the ladder last night. There is no access from inside the boat, the swim platform is completely shut off. Could not access the sheared screw with needle nose vice grips, was too narrow. I think I'm going to have to bore out the hole in the fiberglass a bit more to secure anything to it, but I'm thinking that is the best way to proceed. Will try to secure a cap of some sort that holds the ladder in place. This has ended up being quite the damn mess.

 

[gm280]

Not being there to address your situation, you could always core out the holes a lot bigger and install some white oak or teak or any rot resistant wood epoxied or polyester-ed in and then coat over those holes with whatever two part finish you like. Heck you could even mix up some polyester material to fill the entire cored out holes and using fiberglass strands mixed into the putter-like filler, it will be there forever. Then you will have fresh material to reinstall the ladder setup and it will positively hold... There is always a way...

 

[cchamp]

Took a good long look at it this weekend and its more of the same. No access from the inside, the sheared screw will turn easily but won't come loose. I took some time and reshaped the anchor brackets and did my best to straighten out the ladder, unfortunately its bent to a point that the telescopic legs don't extend/collapse easily. It is currently functional though.

Still has good support. I'm going to just try to find a ladder of the same dimensions (13 inches to the outer edge of the brackets, 11 inches in between) to replace the ladder and will take my time coming up with some way to add a bit more support to the section with the sheared screw. Looks like its going to be tough finding a ladder with those dimensions. Standard now appears to be between 11-12 inches.

 

[briangcc]

Might check around to see if there are any marine salvage yards that might have a workable ladder for ya.

 

[cchamp]

Might check around to see if there are any marine salvage yards that might have a workable ladder for ya.

That is what I was thinking, have some leg work to do. Not sure if there are any near me. Definitely some large auto salvage yards that might have a boat or two. Pretty common boat so hopefully a replacement is out there somewhere.