Subj : Re: Boat repairs
To   : rec.sport.rowing
From : Leon Warrington
Date : Mon May 10 2021 01:10 am

Thanks to the useful tips both - I should be able to sort my issues out now.
Cheers, 
Leon
On Friday, 7 May 2021 at 13:36:40 UTC+1, sully wrote:
> On Friday, May 7, 2021 at 3:46:28 AM UTC-7, Leon Warrington wrote: 
> > Been refurbishing some older boats recently (think 1990's Janouseks / Sims
etc.) to get them back out on the water. 
> > 
> > Any tips on the following? 
> > - repairing loose foot-stretcher holes so that screws have something solid
to bind to; 
> > - repairing worn holes for seat tracks 
> > 
> > Thinking some kind of filler, any recommendations?
> I do this a lot on all my fleet of old singles, Maas, vespoli, janousek,
kaschper, pococks, etc. 
> 
> footboard plates: typically the boats that I've worked on redoing track screw
 holes have a little extra room on the mounting platforms so sometimes I've
just filled the holes and shifted the plates slightly fore or aft. yes a cheat.
 If I know I'll have really big people in it, I'll shift aft, or if it's a boat
 really small people will end up rowing shift to bow. 
> 
> for filling whether I reuse or shift I'll trim some small shavings of tongue
depressor. I use a tube of thickened epoxy (stirred in some microballs), put a
little into the hole, then stuff the hole with some of the splinters such that
they hold themselves in place, then fill the rest of the way with the epoxy.
Some boats have very thick mounting plates, some less thick that the holes are
worn through such that epoxy you put into the hole will drop through to the
bottom of the boat. I use a very thin long nail to probe to see if I have a
bottom or not and tells me if I can fill it deep or just construct it. After it
 hardens, there may be a bump of extra wood or an epoxy bede to sand. Then
drill, either shifting the plates a little or no, both plates that is. 
> 
> If I have a footboard plate screw strip and this boat is in daily use and
need to get through another couple weeks until I can take it apart, dry it out
and do properly, I'll simply take some of the tongue depressor splinters, shove
 them into the hole until tight, then screw in a slightly thicker or longer
screw with the right head. 
> 
> tracks: If your boat builder didn't have grommets I would find some from
another builder. It will make your future much better. Typically the hole in
the deck where the grommet mounts enlarges. In boats where there is no grommet,
 the hole enlarges, and the underside of the deck gets all chewed up. This way,
 when you end up screwing the tracks down tight you're compressing against the
plastic grommet and not crushing into the honeycomb. 
> 
> Make a paste of epoxy and microfiller again, I would take a piece of masking
tape and attach to a piece of wax paper or plastic food baggie, then tape that
on the underside of the hole. sand what you can underneath and wipe so the tape
 has a good grip. then fill, dry, pull the tape off the bottom and drill. 
> 
> mount the grommets with some marine caulk. I've seen some boats where
manufacturers don't do this, prolly not necessary if your deck is not
honeycomb. 
> 
> Don't know if this is the ideal ways but it's been successful for years for
me, I like putting my repair techniques out there so better craftsmen than I
can show better ways. The wood splinter fill is something I devised because no
fill I ever used ever gave screws a good bite.
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