Loose Track

[Dave G]

The jib car track on my 1971 E-29 is loose. It has 1" track mounted along the rail with flat head bolts. In some places the bolts are loose and the track will lift off the deck slightly if the car is located at the spot. When I tried to tighten the bolts the nuts spin. I can't get access to the nuts as they are glassed over at the point where the deck is attached to the hull.

Has anyone experienced this problem? Anyone have any ideas on how to correct this?

Dave

 

[Martin King]

I rebedded all my stanchion bases and replaced both
t tracks on my 31. In areas where the nuts were glassed
over, I ground away the glass enough to get a socket
on the nut. Not fun at all, but really the only way to solve
the problem.

Martin

 

[Dave G]

Grinding out the glass to get at the nuts was the only solution I had dreamed up, Yuk!

What did you use to do the grinding?

Dave

 

[Martin King]

Well I guess I should back up a moment and let
you know that my boat is undergoing a total rebuild. The
interior was practically gutted-except for the main bulkheads.
With the interior stripped down, grinding of fiberglass
commenced using an air powered die grinder with carbide
fiberglass bits and a small three inch wheel that takes
spin on abrasive discs. Also used were abrasive cut off
wheels to zip off tabbing where appropriate. To protect
my lungs, I wore a respirator with replaceable cartridges,
and had a fan overhead in the main hatch pushing air
out of the boat. It helps to have someone with a shop
vac nozzle catching the dust as it comes off the wheel,
but this isn't always practical. A horrible, itchy job that
ranks right up with rebuilding the sanitation system-I'm
glad that one's behind me.

Martin