Screws pulled out of rear hatch hinge... suggestions?

[JDSCHMOO]

I noticed this weekend that the screw for my rear hatch- where I access the plugs- were loose, I tried to gently tighten them with not luck. Yesterday I went to check them and they pulled out of the fiberglass when I opened the hatch. Any suggestions on how to fix this? I'm sure it wouldn't be a Yamaha covered repair...

 

[Andy S]

You can fill the holes with marine epoxy, once cured redrill and reinstall.

 

[scokill]

You can fill the holes with marine epoxy, once cured redrill and reinstall.

That works. Another trick is to take the screw out, wedge wooden toothpicks in, break them off flush, and screw back in. If it's on the deck attachment vs. the boat side, I drilled through and used small bolt/nut and then cut off the excess so it would close properly.

 

[Captbob]

Home Depot has a stripped hole repair kit called " Mr. Grip". It has steel teeth and looks neat. You may want to try it. I have one but have not had any use for it yet.

 

[txav8r]

The wood from the toothpick may not last as the get wet and dry over time. Using some marine tex in the hole and redrilling is the fast and easy way to permanently fix it. I use a 30 minute stick epoxy called quick wood and JBweld has a version. Not sure if Marine Tex has a version like this or not, but you don't have to mix the quick wood or jbweld stick...you just cut of a little, mix the two part putty together in your fingers, and push it into the hole with a blunted end of a toothpick and pack it in there good. Redrill, reinstall, and your done in less than 10 minutes of work, excluding the 30 minutes for the quick wood to set up.

 

[txav8r]

I went to Polymerics Systems, Inc.'s website to look for a white alternative to the tan or dark colored quickwood sticks. They have a number of similar tootsie roll epoxy sticks and aquamend dries off white. Most screw hole repair won't matter on color, because you will cover it back up with the hinge and screw. But you can make a quick fix with these products and be back on the water in less than an hour. I notice their label now says full cure in 60 minutes...it used to say 30 minutes. But they have this in multiple names for multiple uses, and I suspect most of them are the same formula, just a different tint. The aquamend can be used for underwater repairs! That could be good for many. I may be a tube of that to have on board. I have worked with the quickwood for years on woodworking, filling holes in travertine in shower tiles that were filled but lost their epoxy filling, fixing just about anything. I first used it to literally make a new hinge on a molded plastic glovebox on a honda accord years ago, I was able to mold the new hinge and drill it out for the pin, and back in business in a hour. These are great to have around to make fast epoxy repairs, especially when your surface is vertical and sagging or running out of liquids won't work.
http://www.polymericsystems.com/epoxies-adhesives/epoxy-putty-sticks/product.htm

 

[Glassman]

One Approach:
Cheap and effective. Not bad for a rookie. One important thing this fellow does is remove the old material. It the screws pulled out of a part that has plywood in it, it is usually because the plywood lost integrity. You don't want to slap filler over a bad substrate - it will just fail down the road. So unless you plan on using some sort of Git-Rot penetrant to solidify rotted wood, you should remove the bad stuff first. A good substitute for the mixture shown here is Kitty Hair, but a small job might not justify the expenditure. A home-made version is easy to make if you have the materials.

 

[scokill]

The wood from the toothpick may not last as the get wet and dry over time. Using some marine tex in the hole and redrilling is the fast and easy way to permanently fix it. I use a 30 minute stick epoxy called quick wood and JBweld has a version. Not sure if Marine Tex has a version like this or not, but you don't have to mix the quick wood or jbweld stick...you just cut of a little, mix the two part putty together in your fingers, and push it into the hole with a blunted end of a toothpick and pack it in there good. Redrill, reinstall, and your done in less than 10 minutes of work, excluding the 30 minutes for the quick wood to set up.

I have some repaired with toothpick that are 4 years old...may not be a long time for some.

 

[Lspeedss]

I have used small white zip ties. Insert pointed end into hole. Sometimes two. Start your screw and then cut flush. Tighten down. Has lasted 10 years on my buddies bimini strap hook.

 

[txav8r]

As you can see, many ways to skin the cat! And you can find all sorts of good ways to fix something right here on jetboaters.net!

 

[itsdgm]

Im not sure what your screws are screwed into, but another method would be to drill through it and put a nut/bolt/washer in as a replacement

 

[ToddW850]

Im not sure what your screws are screwed into, but another method would be to drill through it and put a nut/bolt/washer in as a replacement

I'm currently having this same issue and started to do this. I had already bought the screw and nuts. Drilled all the way through and went to puts screws in, however ran into a problem. Unfortunately, the bottom side of the hatch, where the holes go through, is right above the edge of the clean out tray and there's no room for a nut or anything. So I'm gonna give the epoxy idea a try.

 

[JDSCHMOO]

I'm currently having this same issue and started to do this. I had already bought the screw and nuts. Drilled all the way through and went to puts screws in, however ran into a problem. Unfortunately, the bottom side of the hatch, where the holes go through, is right above the edge of the clean out tray and there's no room for a nut or anything. So I'm gonna give the epoxy idea a try.

I was gonna check that tonight. I did pick up some JB Weld epoxy at Home Depot yesterday.

 

[Julian]

I'm currently having this same issue and started to do this. I had already bought the screw and nuts. Drilled all the way through and went to puts screws in, however ran into a problem. Unfortunately, the bottom side of the hatch, where the holes go through, is right above the edge of the clean out tray and there's no room for a nut or anything. So I'm gonna give the epoxy idea a try.

I assume you've determined that you can't drill a small recess into the tray for the nut?

 

[scokill]

I'm currently having this same issue and started to do this. I had already bought the screw and nuts. Drilled all the way through and went to puts screws in, however ran into a problem. Unfortunately, the bottom side of the hatch, where the holes go through, is right above the edge of the clean out tray and there's no room for a nut or anything. So I'm gonna give the epoxy idea a try.

I just cut the bolt flush. It does imprint the gasket but no issues and it's much tighter.

 

[Lspeedss]

Oh the screws on the lid...I was assuming it was the other end of the hinge.
You know you could take and fabricateba triangular plate with threaded holes in the proper placement and then screw into that. Use at least 316grade stainless.

 

[ToddW850]

I assume you've determined that you can't drill a small recess into the tray for the nut?

I did consider that, however, the hatch itself is not fibergalss through and through. It's like wood inside with fiberglass on the outside.

 

[ToddW850]

I just cut the bolt flush. It does imprint the gasket but no issues and it's much tighter.

View attachment 6520

That's exactly what I was trying to do. Your hatch must be slightly different, because mine does not have a gasket and there is almost no room between the bottom of the hatch and the top edge of the clean out tray.

 

[Murf'n'surf]

Poke around in those screw holes with an awl. Is the plywood rotted? Other than a lengthy cut and patch of rotten ply, there are epoxies on the market that can be injected into these rotten areas to sure them up.

Moral of the story......everyone should at some point remove and reseal their hatch hardware before too much rot occurs, this applies to the ski locker as well.

 

[txav8r]

Agreed @Murf'n'surf and @Glassman too, the method I described using a putty is a fast repair. But if it isn't a pulled out screw from just thread failure, then it may be rot. If it is, you can't cram enough putting in there and need to use liquid epoxy. and you can just pour it into the hole, it will seep into the voids of the rot and fill them up. You need a slow cure for this, because you don't want it curing before it has a chance to fill the voids of the rot. If you have a very old boat, your hatch could be very compromised and in need of serious repair. Like Murf says, as some point, all of us, if we kept the boat long enough, would have to repair the screw hole area, this is the nature of the beast as it is a laminated deck. Laminated meaning that is is just a plywood base that has been sealed and layered with fiberglass and resin, shaping and adding the dimension that was needed. When it is drilled, the screws penetrated that resin and glass, into the wood substrate. Water will migrate into the substrate over time and rot it out. I think I have read both of you guys ideas on repairing this type of an issue when failure has occured. I don't think there is a good preventative for this, as the wood is still solid when new, and a penetrating epoxy would not run through the fibers until some sort of failure had occured would it? Contrary to popular belief...most fiberglass boats contain some wood for structural rigidity. It would be nice if they could use some kind of structural support that won't rot!