Repair Fish Box Hinge

So how are you suppose to repair this hinge, I would rather not cut into the fishbox to gain access to the stripped bolts, but I may have no choice.

http://old.charlestonfishing.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=159578&SearchTerms=screws

Cracker Larry was a master at this sort of thing. May he rest in peace.

Pioneer 222 Sportfish
Yamaha 250

quote:
Originally posted by Long Enuff

http://old.charlestonfishing.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=159578&SearchTerms=screws

Cracker Larry was a master at this sort of thing. May he rest in peace.

Pioneer 222 Sportfish
Yamaha 250


Nice call. I know a cracker that’s smiling.

The ENTER-NET Fisherman

How are those bolts/screws captured under the deck? Do they have nuts?

If they have nuts, tricks I’d try.

Pry up on the hinge as hard as you can without fear of pulling the fasteners through. With that pressure in place, try to unscrew the machine screws. You’re hoping the nuts underneath will catch enough friction to keep them from spinning.

OR

If there is enough room, again lift up on the hinge. With it lifted, insert a small screw driver shaft or allen wrench into the hole to try to pin the nut in place. Unscrew machine screw.

OR

Pry up on hinge to try to keep machine screw from spinning. Drill the heads off of the screws. Hopefully, they fall down into hull harmlessly and leave you enough room for repairs and refastening the hinge.

Then…
clean holes.
fill with thickened resin - almost anything will work. Polyester with a little milled fiber. I’ve done this with regular old CSM that I cut into about 1/16th" lengths with a pair of scissors. But, you can get fancy and buy some epoxy and micro-balloons and milled fiber etc. and do that too. The thickening agent is doing two things. First, resins are relatively brittle. Without some fiber or filler of some sort, they crack relatively easily. Second, polyester and vinylester have a lot of solvent in them. When they cure, the solvent leaves(floats away) and the material shrinks significantly. This can make a plug pull away from the edges.

Redrill and attach hinge.


17’ Henry O Hornet w/ Johnson 88 spl
26’ Palmer Scott project hull
14’ Bentz-Craft w/ Yamaha 25