Removal of traveler track from sea hood - 32-3

[peaman]

I have removed the sea hood for re-bedding and other work, and I would like to remove the traveler track from the sea hood. I assume the track is original. I rented an impact wrench for removal of the seven Phillips head bolts, but have managed to remove only four while the other three will no budge. I tried PB Blaster and a bit of heat. I have broken two bits, with no further progress. Any thoughts on how I might be able to get this done without destroying either track or hood?

 

[Kenneth K]

You could try drilling the heads off of the screws and slipping the track over the shanks. It's pretty easy to drill them out in a straight manner because the bit stays centered in the screw slots. Just make sure you stop before drilling into the aluminum track.

Yeah, the impact driver is usually the ticket to cracking them loose. The rat-tat-tat of the bit normally frees up the fasteners much better than a straight-drive drill.

 

[bigd14]

If you haven’t already, try running the impact driver in forward, sometimes that’s enough to break the seal when reverse doesn’t work.
There is an aluminum plate buried in glass in the seahood that the traveler bolts into. It can be exposed by cutting the fiberglass away as a previous owner did in my boat, and may make it easier to drill out the traveler bolts from below. See Part II blog.

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