Looking for advice on boat problem

[ERD50]

Quote:

Originally Posted by pb4uski Off topic, but this afternoon I used a product to rid my pontoon boat seats of mildew that was positively amazing. ... While it has a slight bleach smell, I think it is more bleachy than it seems as some overspray got on my colored t-shirt and it now has white spots. After I was done I rinsed everything well with water. ...

Did you try a plain diluted bleach spray? Bleach removes mildew amazingly fast, and amazingly cheap.

-ERD50

[Sunset]

Your pontoon boat cleaned up very nicely.
I also was wondering if you tried a weak solution of bleach before this product ?

[pb4uski]

I did ... a few months ago... and it didn't seem to work well. This product literally melted the mildew away.

[Texas Proud]

Quote:

Originally Posted by pb4uski I think the easiest solution would be to get SS or brass wood screws as large in diameter as will fit through the hinge and as long as you can given the thickness of the deck material and the hinge... hopefully those will bite into the decking material enough to do the trick. If the hole is rounded out and too loose you can stuff the hole with some folded toothpicks to provide more bite. Alternatively you could get some fasteners that fit your bolts like the piece on the right in the attached picture and install those into the wood (looks like they install with an hex wrench) and hopefully that should work.

Quote:

Originally Posted by travelover If the wood is rotted, you can dry it out and use a diluted resin product like GitRot to firm it up. Then redrill it for a screw. That bolt looks like it originally threaded into a special type of T nut, which may have pulled out of the wood.

Thought you guys who gave suggestions would like an update....


OK... finally got around to doing what I needed. Got GitRot, but they say you should use it when outside temp is below 70... well, that is NOT anytime in the summer or fall around here...

Also bought some syringes so I could put the GitRot in the holes easier... I did have a problem in that the holes in the wood were all the way through... tried to plug them, but the GitRot would still get around... drilled 3 holes 3/4 of the way through the wood around each hole.... for a total of 9 for each hinge...

Just to let people know... GitRot works GREAT... I would fill the hole and even put more on top... come back the next day and it is all gone!!! Do it again and again it is all gone... I think I had to put GitRot in 4 or 5 times until the wood stopped soaking it up... Now the wood is really hard...


Bought the inserts that pb4uski suggested... so this morning drilled the holes in the GitRot and screwed them in.... Now, I was starting to drill where the lifters were screwed in and guess what THEY HAD INSERTS THERE!!!! They were deep in the hole, but I saw metal coming out and looked down inside and there were inserts.... where were the ones down where the hinges were located

But, the inserts went in and 5 of 6 were pretty strong.... one seemed to be holding well, but not great... Had the family help lift it up and screwed everything together....


So far, it is working great.... seems to be holding pretty strongly... as long as I get 5 to 7 years out of it I will be happy...


THANKS TO ALL FOR THE SUGGESTIONS.... this was one that I did not know at all... and seemed like the easiest to do...




BTW, there is a 'bump' you can feel under the pad on one of the locations... the GitRot was leaking as I said and pooled below and formed a cover on the wood... no big deal.... if you did not know I had put all this GitRot there you would just think it was something to do with the padding...

[travelover]

Awesome. Glad it worked out for you.

[Sunset]

Thanks for the update, always nice to know the ending.

[ArkTinkerer]

May be a little late for you but when I use inserts like that I usually coat them with adhesive (usually epoxy) before inserting. Makes them much more solid and less likely to back out. Oh, and wipe or wash them with acetone or alcohol first to get rid of any oil or mold release that would prevent the glue from adhering.

[Texas Proud]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ArkTinkerer May be a little late for you but when I use inserts like that I usually coat them with adhesive (usually epoxy) before inserting. Makes them much more solid and less likely to back out. Oh, and wipe or wash them with acetone or alcohol first to get rid of any oil or mold release that would prevent the glue from adhering.

Thanks for the advice... I had thought about that just a bit, but did not do it....

However, since it seemed to work so well, if something happens to what I have now I will redo and do the epoxy add on... hopefully what I have done will be enough until I get rid of the boat...