Stanchion replacement

Submitted by pfhealy on Sun, 05/23/2004 - 20:22
Today in some stiff wind the dry rot holding my stanchion together finally gave up and cut short a great day on the lake. I am fair with tools and am wondering if anyone has replaced a stanchion and has any advice or tips to make the job easier. It appears to bolt out and I did not see enough today to make a full estimate of what the job will entail. I am not good with epoxy and glass and don't want to mess with that, is it an amatuer job or should I call a pro ?
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Comments

Your best thing to do is to call the factory.

Submitted by FS5516 on Sun, 05/23/2004 - 21:34.
Your best thing to do is to call the factory. They can tell you what to expect and a general idea of what to do. If you are not sure about doing it, especially if there is epoxy and glass involved, you may want a pro to do it. Anyway, where are you located? Mark FS 5516 Grey Hare

Thanks.

Submitted by pfhealy on Thu, 05/27/2004 - 19:01.
Thanks. I am in Chattanooga, TN. I have an older boat (3586) that has seen some use over the years and I bought her to get back into sailing. I joined Privateer YC Fleet 13 and have started to race locally and in the Carolinas. My plans are to tune up and clean up this boat the best I can within a very limited budget. The previous owner performed glass repairs to the hull/deck and the core appears to be sound, however the stanchion has rotted away where the boom vang threads through at the aft section of the stantion.

You may be able to get replacement stanchion from FS Inc.

Submitted by FS5516 on Thu, 05/27/2004 - 20:51.
You may be able to get replacement stanchion from FS Inc. I haven't looked under the foredeck in a long while, so I can't tell you if the top portion of the stanchion is glassed in or not. Like I said in my previous post, your best bet is call FS Inc. The only tricky part that I can see is getting out the old bolts. I believe they are through bolts, meaning it passes through the stanchion and the centerboard trunk. You will also may need to support the deck while the stanchion is out. A little patience and some advice will go a long ways to helping you do a nice repair yourself. If you complete this job, you may want to post your results and any advice/suggestions for anyone else that may need to do the same repair.[;)] Good luck and have fun sailing soon.[:)] Mark FS 5516 Grey Hare

I'm not sure if we are talking about the same thing exactly here

Submitted by EricG on Sat, 05/29/2004 - 01:08.
I'm not sure if we are talking about the same thing exactly here, so bear with me. Is the entire wooden stanchion bolted top-to the deck and bottom -to the floor? Most seem to be fiberglassed, though mine is bolted/screwed. The bolts and screws make it very easy to remove the entire stanchion. If it is fiberglassed, it should still be fairly easy to cut the glass. Then prop the deck up with a couple of 2x4s and slide the stanchion out. From here it is easy to see how it is put together. For me a bunch of stainless screws. Simply unscrew the parts that are bad, and make a new one. I am no whiz at repairs, with only basic tools. So you should be able to handle fine. I used a hand saw, file and sander to cut and shape 1" Mahagony that I got at the local wood speciality shop. Only needed the one small piece.The rest of the wood was solid. Original is Teak, I think, but too pricy! Actually I completely disassembled my stanchion, sanded to bare wood, and refinished with Sikkens. Looks great. The mahagony fits OK with teak, and should hold up well. The Sikkens should protect for many years. It is covered except when sailing. If your entire stanchion is bolt in, you are set. If glassed, an hour of reading and $5-10 in materials should give you all you need to know to glass it back in.

Forgot to mention that you should put no weight, esp people, on

Submitted by EricG on Sat, 05/29/2004 - 01:18.
Forgot to mention that you should put no weight, esp people, on the deck until you get the stanchion back in. The stanchion is a major strength key for the boat. I think refinishing the stanchion was the biggest look improvement I made to my Scott. And this boat had a really chalky blue hull that is now shiny.

I rebuilt the tabernacle (stanchion) on 277, a glassed in unit.

Submitted by Barry277 on Sat, 07/10/2004 - 13:11.
I rebuilt the tabernacle (stanchion) on 277, a glassed in unit. Careful prying with a sharp 1" chisel freed the glass tabbing from the top, and the bottom is held with screws (not through-bolted) on 277. Once free it pivoted right out with some 2x4's supporting the deck. Unscrewing the pieces and it came apart easily for refinishing, and patterns could be made from any pieces needing replacement. One additional piece I added to stiffen the unit is a 1" thick piece of mahoghany in the facing, glued and screwed, greatly strengthened the tabernacle to centerboard trunk junction. It extends from the bottom of the top flat almost to the top of the trunk, with a slot for the cable. I used West System epoxy to reattach the tabernacle to the deck and trunk, with stainless screws top (through the existing tabbing) and stainless screws at the bottom. I have pictures and will try and add a link, or will send to any that are interested. http://community.webshots.com/photo/161559211/161560678hPbeNM Hopefully this url will get to the photo...

I tried to view the photos mentioned above but was denied access

Submitted by Richard Lewis on Sun, 07/11/2004 - 12:32.
I tried to view the photos mentioned above but was denied access. It said I am not the owner of the album and could therefore not view the pix. Any way I can get in to see what you did? I am faced with a similar problem on my scot.

The link worked for me.

Submitted by EricG on Fri, 07/16/2004 - 22:35.
The link worked for me. I can see how adding the mahagony board in front added strength. Could probably put it in back too. I think Barry did a good job of explaining what I did too. It is not hard to get the tabernacle out and repair it even for those of us with modest woodworking skills. Just need some mahagony and patience, aka time to cure. Seems to me that the sloping piece of mahagony which is only about 8-10" long is the vulnerable one to weathering and rot. That is the one I replaced. Taking everything apart makes it so easy to work on. These boats really are pretty simple and strong, and repairable! pfhealy, I hope you will let us know what you have done to get yourself back on the water! Good luck!

The link worked for me.

Submitted by EricG on Fri, 07/16/2004 - 22:37.
The link worked for me. I can see how adding the mahagony board in front added strength. Could probably put it in back too. I think Barry did a good job of explaining what I did too. It is not hard to get the tabernacle out and repair it even for those of us with modest woodworking skills. Just need some mahagony and patience, aka time to cure. Seems to me that the sloping piece of mahagony which is only about 8-10" long is the vulnerable one to weathering and rot. That is the one I replaced. Taking everything apart makes it so easy to work on. These boats really are pretty simple and strong, and repairable! pfhealy, I hope you will let us know what you have done to get yourself back on the water! Good luck!

Just finished resetting my stanchion which came loose in early J

Submitted by Richard Lewis on Mon, 08/23/2004 - 17:35.
Just finished resetting my stanchion which came loose in early July (see my query above) and thanks to the posts in this section, and specifically to suggestions given by Barry277, and Harry Carpenter at Flying Scot, I think I managed to do a good job. I offer one suggestion of my own to ownwers of older Scots (mine is #367, built in 1962) who might want to avoid having the same thing happen - check the condition of the screws holding the stanchion in place on the forward end of the centerboard trunk. I can't believe that the waves I hit were enough to make ALL of them snap at the time! I keep thinking that they might have been deteriorating over a long period of time and replacing them with larger stainless steel screws would have helped me avoid a good deal of work. Oh well, I did learn a lot about how the Scot is put together. And I learned a new trade - working with epoxy.

Well, I finally have finished my stanchion/tabernacle replacemen

Submitted by pfhealy on Sun, 03/06/2005 - 16:56.
Well, I finally have finished my stanchion/tabernacle replacement. I delayed my work thinking I would meet with the Flying Scot reps at the Strictly Sail Expo in Philadelphia, but a snow storm prevented my flight from arriving on time. I went ahead and ordered the stanchion from Flying Scot along with a few spare parts. (I figured I would replace a few other things since I had the boat torn up) Flying Scot shipped a beautifully finished replacement that fit like a glove. I followed the FS installation directions with the exception of not flipping the hull over, it was easily enough done with the boat right side up. Not hard at all, with the fine product Scot shipped, and easy to follow directions, a deck ape with two left thumbs installed it without a hitch.

Here is a picture of original starboard - vertical piece after

Submitted by PeterK on Fri, 09/10/2010 - 22:04.
Here is a picture of original starboard - vertical piece after disassembly http://s906.photobucket.com/albums/ac263/joema_seacraft/FS%20Stanchion%2... Peter Kowalski FS 3754 Decatur, GA