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Re: Santorin helm seat support pipe loose

JOHN HAYES
 

Morning Craig

We definitely cut the glass under the seat mounting point to access the base and support for the seat

After putting in a wooden beam and bolting the base to that we bogged it up with epoxy resin mixed with a white powder which thickened the resin to cover the beam and to support under and around the beam and glue in the glass skin we had removed. 

The only thing we did not touch was the collar at the base that the pole protrudes through. There was a very small gap around it and I wondered about putting resin around that but in the finish left it alone. I had made a cockpit cover stretching from the front fibreglass wind screen back to the mizzen mast. The cockpit area is well protected and only gets wet when we hose the area or very occasionally have a  wave dump in from the quarter in big seas   The fix has shown no sign of movement since the repair about 4 years ago. 

Hope your repair goes as well

Best

John hayes 
Nga Waka hull 91

Nz


On 16/04/2022, at 11:38 AM, John Hayes <johnhayes862@...> wrote:

Morning Craig

A large crew member managed to sit in the steering seat and the whole arrangement dropped about a foot. Sorry no photos. We cut access from the engine room glued a new wooden support then fibre glassed the wooden support and base of the metal support pole (original and un modified) and it’s been fine ever since. 

The only movement now is about 1 mm where the seat pole comes through the fiber glass floor. It’s got no worse in 3 years in some pretty rough water in the pacific and sub Antarctic. 

It looked more difficult to fix than it was

John Hayes
Nga Waka (1991)

Currently in waikawa marina near Picton
 


On 16/04/2022, at 5:12 AM, Ian Park <parkianj@...> wrote:

Craig,
It is bolted on to the original pipe which is still welded to the bottom plate. If I took the bolts out it would probably slide off. 
Mine was moving from side to side. There was only one bolt holding the sleeve on (fore and aft) which suggests the white nylon insert is only at the top. I drilled a new hole across the bottom which locked everything in place. I’d tried tightening the bolts in the engine room before this. 
I guess at some stage I’ll have to address the rusting plate issue

Ian


On 15 Apr 2022, at 17:07, Craig Briggs <sangaris68@...> wrote:

Hi Ian,
     Your picture of the bottom looks exactly like mine. On top, though, I have only a single pipe going straight up to the seat. It seems pretty certain that a prior owner of your boat must have cut off the original pipe a few inches above the base and a few inches below the seat and then added the sleeve so it could be adjusted up or down, swiveled, or removed. A fine idea.
     In my case of not being able to tighten either bolt, the seat is rotating back and forth about maybe 3° or 4°. That causes it to hit the lazarette seat when you open that and to be quite wobbly when you sit in it.
     Short of cutting open the base, I suppose I could copy your sleeve idea but weld a small metal tab on either side at the bottom going down an inch or so over the base and bolt those tabs into the base to prevent any rotation.
     It would be great to know exactly how that pipe was fastened into the floor inside of the base - Joel or Olivier, any ideas?

Best regards,
Craig Briggs - s/v Sangaris / SN68  Tropic Isle Harbor, FL

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