filling and drilling

[Home Cookin']

doing some work on an old whaler. the screws attaching the wood to the hull are loose, holes enlarged and a source of water intrusion, so I want to fill and redrill them. Whaler used wood screws.

what do you all recommend that I can fill and redrill? I have heard of threading a screw hole in fiberglass with a tap but I don't think I can do that with wood screws and I like their bite into the wood. I don't want to fill with something that will shatter with the wood screw, but it needs to bite the hole sides, too.

I guess an option is to glue in a wood plug like a dowel with 5200 and then drill out but the holes aren't that big and I can't see a dowel plug handling the wood screws either.

thoughts?

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: filling and drilling

How much surface area do the screws have to screw into? How deep? 1/4", 1/2" 1 1/2" ???? What are they screwing into now?

 

[Home Cookin']

Re: filling and drilling

right now they go through about 5/8 mahogony then an inch into the hull. The hull is gelcoat/fiberglass over foam. These are not structural attachments in the sense that much strength is essential; there are side pieces on top of the seats screwed into the bulkhead and the console screwed into the deck.
so the fill part would simply replace the gel/glass side; it's not like a cleat where you would want backing.

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: filling and drilling

I think I'd use tooth picks cut to length and Gorilla glue. 100" waterproof, expands to fill voids. Toothpick will allow screws to "Bite". JMHO

 

[Yacht Dr.]

Re: filling and drilling

I think I know what your saying HC ..

You want to reinstall the Whaler console Mohog. ..but your glass is Bored out !

You want to use the Bronze wood screws that was used for your mohog..

You want to screw in your mohog to the glass shell aye ? ..

If I am correct .. then there are Square plastic plug/inserts that you can push into your glass that will accept this without tearing off your Bronze screw heads ..

Even automotive headlight inserts will work .. check out your local auto store for some Plastic headlight inserts ..

Little square plastic inserts with a round plug formation .. ..

Hope this helps.

YD.

 

[Home Cookin']

Re: filling and drilling

thanks--good idea. Or even the screw recievers like you put in sheetrock, I guess. They are covered by the wood so appearance doesn't matter.
I guess I'd just seal them in with 5200, and maybe some silicone on the screws? I don't want to 5200 in the screws themselves.

 

[Yacht Dr.]

Re: filling and drilling

thanks--good idea. Or even the screw recievers like you put in sheetrock, I guess. They are covered by the wood so appearance doesn't matter.
I guess I'd just seal them in with 5200, and maybe some silicone on the screws? I don't want to 5200 in the screws themselves.

No.. You probably would not want to do the 5200 thing on the screws lol..

3m 4000 might be a good bet though

YD.

 

[Home Cookin']

Re: filling and drilling

No.. You probably would not want to do the 5200 thing on the screws lol..


YD.

You would be surprised--or maybe not--how often that is recommended in the general boating forum.

 

[rickryder]

Re: filling and drilling

thanks--good idea. Or even the screw recievers like you put in sheetrock, I guess. They are covered by the wood so appearance doesn't matter.
I guess I'd just seal them in with 5200, and maybe some silicone on the screws? I don't want to 5200 in the screws themselves.

Plastic drywall anchors may not work .... My wife wanted some towel hooks in the fiberglass shower stall....even though I used the proper size drill bit the anchor would just spin in the hole...they have small barbs on the sides that catch the sheetrock well but not the glass....I ended up with toggle bolts instead..

 

[Georgesalmon]

Re: filling and drilling

The toothpick idea above is a good one, I've done that many times. The only thing I do differently is put some epoxy in the holes first and put the toothpicks and screws in before the epoxy cures. Just don't spin them out. I havw always been able to get the scews out later if necessary to. The epoxy; you ask. Just about anything you find at your local home improvement store will work fine for this. I use a kind they call "marine epoxy" it's a buck more probably because it says "marine" on it.

 

[andgott]

Re: filling and drilling

You would be surprised--or maybe not--how often that is recommended in the general boating forum.

No surprise there- People seem to think that 5200 is the cure-all for EVERYTHING