Something Else had some Stanchion issues when I bought “her”. I’m not sure Something Else is female but traditionally boats are called “her” so I will fall in step. A stanchion is a post sticking up from the perimeter of the deck to support the life lines. My boat and many boats made in Europe during the 60’s and 70’s used solid aluminum stanchions. They are 24 inches tall with a triangular base held on with three screws. The life lines are stainless 3/16 steel cables and are intended to prevent the crew from falling overboard. Two of the stanchions bases on the port side had broken thru the deck. This must have been caused by an impact with a dock or another boat. The stern pulpit was also bent over on the port side. Oh the sins on the PO. With the outer layers of the deck broken, water was able to seep into the balsa core of the deck. The balsa rotted locally and no longer provided structural rigidity.
The first step was to remove the stanchion. The nuts were encapsulated in fiberglass. This had to be ground and chiseled away. The nuts and screws were removed and the stanchion was easily removed. Exploratory surgery was required to determine the extent of the damage to the core. Deck material was removed until all the damaged deck and core were removed and solid good material was exposed. The area was bowled out to provide a tapper of about 10:1. This allows the layers fiberglass area to bond to. Next a new core was fabricated from marine plywood. The core was bonded with thickened epoxy to the existing core and the bottom fiberglass layers. 12 oz. fiberglass cloth was laid up with epoxy resin. This was topped with peel ply (a Dacron fabric), waxed paper, a piece of plywood and finally a 25 lb weight. After the epoxy cured the weight, plywood and waxed paper were removed. The peel ply was pulled off which left a nearly perfect surface. The area was sanded and faired then painted to protect the epoxy from UV exposure. The original aluminum stanchions are being replaced by polished stainless steel stanchions that are the norm on sail boats here in the US. I got these at the yacht salvage store. They sure are pretty. I had the stern pulpit straitened at a local shop that makes pulpits for many manufactures since the 60’s. I am holding off the final installation of the stanchions and pulpits until I paint the whole deck.
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| Damaged deck from stanchion |
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| Inside veiw of damaged deck. View looking up. |
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| Rotted balsa core. |
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| Replacement core and 10:1 tapper for fiberglass repair |
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| Repair prior to sanding and paint. |
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| Sanded and primed. |
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I have 8 solid aluminum stanchions for sale! |
