# Re-attaching Gas Shock to Hatch



## tcov (Apr 7, 2018)

So I had an idiot moment this weekend and inadvertently load tested the screws that secure the gas shock to one of my hatches. See pictures below. 























What would you guys recommend for repair?


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## Smackdaddy53 (Dec 31, 2012)

Just like this, I’ve done it on my Maverick and on my friend’s Whipray. 

https://www.boatus.com/magazine/2013/april/rebed-deck-fittings-correctly.asp


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## tcov (Apr 7, 2018)

Thanks!


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## Guest (Aug 26, 2019)

Smackdaddy53 said:


> Just like this, I’ve done it on my Maverick and on my friend’s Whipray.
> 
> https://www.boatus.com/magazine/2013/april/rebed-deck-fittings-correctly.asp


Great piece, Smack. That's what this forum is all about!


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## lemaymiami (Feb 9, 2007)

Very good article - and with today's lightweight cored construction... something all of us will need to learn to do if you mess up one of your fasteners...


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## Smackdaddy53 (Dec 31, 2012)

mike_parker said:


> Great piece, Smack. That's what this forum is all about!


Yessir, I was enlightened by another MS member a while back on this topic so I figured I’d pass it on. 
You guys can call me Mac, Captain Mac is even better...haha


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## Flats Broke (Feb 7, 2017)

The article linked by Smack is excellent. However, I think I might take a different approach to your problem. I say this because, even though that article does offer the best way to rebed deck fittings, I think it's fair to say that when we are talking about _screwing_ into a refurbished hole using this method, the screw has a greater chance of pulling loose again than it did originally. If it were my boat, I believe I would just clean up the two holes and drill all the way through your deck lid. Then use a countersunk bit to chamfer the deck lid surface at the entrance to the holes and use two stainless flathead countersunk machine bolts to hold the foot of the gas shock to the deck lid. You can nut the bolts at the gas shock foot end of the bolts preferably with locking nuts. The heads of the flathead countersunk bolts will be flush with the top surface of your deck lid because of the chamfered hole entrances and they won't cause you to trip over them. I think it would be good to use some 5200 in the holes and the chamfered openings to give the bolts extra purchase. A through bolted connection like this will be stronger than reusing your two screws and therefore less susceptible to a repeat occurrence of your previous mishap. Just my two cents.


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## Smackdaddy53 (Dec 31, 2012)

Flats Broke said:


> The article linked by Smack is excellent. However, I think I might take a different approach to your problem. I say this because, even though that article does offer the best way to rebed deck fittings, I think it's fair to say that when we are talking about _screwing_ into a refurbished hole using this method, the screw has a greater chance of pulling loose again than it did originally. If it were my boat, I believe I would just clean up the two holes and drill all the way through your deck lid. Then use a countersunk bit to chamfer the deck lid surface at the entrance to the holes and use two stainless flathead countersunk machine bolts to hold the foot of the gas shock to the deck lid. You can nut the bolts at the gas shock foot end of the bolts preferably with locking nuts. The heads of the flathead countersunk bolts will be flush with the top surface of your deck lid because of the chamfered hole entrances and they won't cause you to trip over them. I think it would be good to use some 5200 in the holes and the chamfered openings to give the bolts extra purchase. A through bolted connection like this will be stronger than reusing your two screws and therefore less susceptible to a repeat occurrence of your previous mishap. Just my two cents.


The screw won’t pull out of epoxy unless you really give it hell. Thru bolting is an idea but not many people want to drill through their hatch lids and leave a visible screw head. Chamfering the hole to counter sink the head will weaken the holding power because you’re removing material so the head has more of a chance to pull through and there’s still nothing between the layers but core and drawing the bolts down will inevitably compress the lid.
Not arguing just my 2 cents again.


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## DuckNut (Apr 3, 2009)

Flats Broke said:


> The article linked by Smack is excellent. However, I think I might take a different approach to your problem. I say this because, even though that article does offer the best way to rebed deck fittings, I think it's fair to say that when we are talking about _screwing_ into a refurbished hole using this method, the screw has a greater chance of pulling loose again than it did originally. If it were my boat, I believe I would just clean up the two holes and drill all the way through your deck lid. Then use a countersunk bit to chamfer the deck lid surface at the entrance to the holes and use two stainless flathead countersunk machine bolts to hold the foot of the gas shock to the deck lid. You can nut the bolts at the gas shock foot end of the bolts preferably with locking nuts. The heads of the flathead countersunk bolts will be flush with the top surface of your deck lid because of the chamfered hole entrances and they won't cause you to trip over them. I think it would be good to use some 5200 in the holes and the chamfered openings to give the bolts extra purchase. A through bolted connection like this will be stronger than reusing your two screws and therefore less susceptible to a repeat occurrence of your previous mishap. Just my two cents.


It will not be a refurbished hole. It will be a freshly drilled hole into a more solid core.

This is the only way to make a solid repair without a bolt sticking through the lid. Even then the bolt may crush the core and glass skins because of the old hole if the core is not strengthen in the same manner prior to through bolting.


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## Flats Broke (Feb 7, 2017)

Everyone is entitled to his/her opinion. I would only make three more points, the first of which is made by the author of the linked article. To wit: "If you're installing your hardware with screws into the fiberglass, rarely a good idea, the epoxy barrier will need to be thick enough to accommodate the cut of the threads." Screwing into fiberglass is indeed rarely a good idea and always a crap shoot where the screws will be put under repeated lift out pressure. Second, the reason I suggested lock nuts with plastic centers is that you don't have to tighten them down so much that you are stressing the glass and core in the deck lid. You merely need to cinch them up to get out any slop. Finally, while you may not like the idea of bolts being visible on the deck lid surface, they will not be protruding because of the chamfered holes. As the article suggests, "chamfering gets rid of any loose gel coat;" and, as I pointed out previously, this allows the countersunk bolt heads to be flush with the deck lid surface. It also allows you to put 5200 under the bolt heads which acts as a gasket to keep out moisture. Nothing in my approach would prevent you from drilling the holes an eighth of an inch larger like the article suggests and filling them with epoxy or even reaming the middle portions of the holes out even wider and injecting them with more epoxy before re-drilling the holes, if you want to wear suspenders with your belt. Finally, notice that the article actually envisions through bolting in its diagrams and, as stated above, tries to caution against screwing into glass.

Back in the mid-1980s I guided full-time for a year while taking a double sabbatical from teaching at Rollins College. I had a different boat back then; but, like the one I have now, it had a casting platform attached to the front storage hatch lid with a turnbuckle. After having clients rip open the hatch and cause the screws holding the shock to tear out of the lid due in part to the added weight of the casting platform, and repairing the lid just like the article suggests doing but reusing screws the first time, I through bolted the foot of the shock to the lid the second time and never had a problem again. At least not with that anyway. Now a 350 lb. former football lineman stepping right through the lid of my cooler to get up on the front deck, or clients dropping expensive reels into the salt water, and on and on, those are all reasons I returned to teaching when my sabbatical was over  Would you believe that back then the water in Mosquito Lagoon was clear, and the water in the north end of the Banana River looked like the keys, except there were lots of gators lurking and not crocodiles.


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