Installing New Winches on Catalina 34 Pt.2
Had an idea. Would fender washers cover up the underside of the old bolt hole on the underside of the cabin roof when I drill the new holes for the new winches?
The existing bolts are secured with 1" washers, spring washers, hex nut and hex acorn nuts. If I replace the 1" washer with a 1 1/2" washers they will probably cover up the old holes adjacent to the new holes.
That simplifies things as matching the finish on the underside of the cabin roof is nearly impossible.
Found washers on Amazon, $24 for 10, found them at the local Broward Bolt for just $4.50+tax. $4.82 such a deal.
They didn't have the new bolts in 316 Stainless, looking elsewhere for those, probably available at ACE Hardware.
Also needs some Epoxy Resin and Hardner.
The old bolts were bent, I'm guessing that was due to poorly drilled holes (not straight / vertical) and I don't have a portable drill guide, so I purchased one of these on Amazon. $8.
Each bolt will have to be cut to length as all 5 are different lengths.
The original bolts were all bent, not sure why, but it could be that the underside of the cabin roof is not parallel to the winch base plinth.
When I drill the new holes they will be 5/16" to give a bit of wiggle room.
Ok, that's the plan.
Now, the underside of the cabin roof where the bolt holes exit is not horizontal, but not wildly out of alignment. The new washers have 5/16" holes which should allow enough slack for them to align with the surface.
Purchased 3" x 1/4 #20 Flat Head Bolts to replace all of the winch mounting boxes and a Tube of 2 part Epoxy.
The hole drilling process will be:
- Mark the new holes
- Drill through using the guide
- Route out the plywood core around all of the holes, new and old.
- Mask off the underside of all holes
- Mix Resin and fill the holes, let it cure
- Re-drill the new holes
- Countersink the top edge of the new holes and apply butyl tape around the holes
- Apply Butyl tape around the screw heads and the base of the new winch.
- Push the bolts through, secure with the washers, spring washers, hex nuts and tighten all down.
- Cut the bolts down to length with my Dremel and secure the hex nuts with the Acorn nuts.
I'll take pics and update this post. Should get this done this next week.
Saturday August 7th. 2021
Finished!
It took a few extra trips to the boat. That's because I screwed up (pun intended) when I purchased the new Screws - I should have purchased 3 1/2" Long Screws Grrrr. Worse because the 3" fit the short holes and I mistakenly thought I had cut the remaining screws too short. I hadn't.
Other than that screw up, I followed the process with only a slight change. I drilled out the existing holes and the new ones with a 1/2" drill bit. Filled them with Resin, let it set for 24 hours and then redrilled 1/4". Finally I drilled 9/32" to allow the bolts to align a little when the nuts are installed. That worked well.
I figured the the original bolts bent during tightening (over tightening?) as the underside of the cabin top is not parallel to the Winch bases.
The good news is that the new Fender Washers cover the old holes on the underside of the cabin top very neatly.
Here's some pics of the process.
Old Port Side Winch removed. Base ready to be cleaned up.
The goop looks like old grease from maintainence.
Oh, the Filter holders in the background are just drying in the Sun, it's part of our keep the fresh water system clean. We remove the Fresh Water filters whenever the boat is not going to be used for a few weeks, it's not likely that we'll take it out until around August 16th. A few projects remain before then.
Using a Drill guide to make sure the new holes being drilled into the cured resin are vertical to the Winch Base.
Holes were drilled with 1/8" pilot holes, then 1/4" thru to the cabin and finally 1/2" to just above the cabin liner.
Those holes were then filled with Resin and left to cure for 24 hours. I did use a Single sided razor to clean off the excess resin.
New holes drilled ready to be countersunk.
Starboard Winch fully installed.
The Lewmar winches are really easy to service, no tools required, but a very small screwdriver to help ease out the brass position lock segments.
Next service is due in January 2022.
Really this is an easy project. Important points are that the bolts need to be 3 1/2" #20 1/4" Flat Head Phillips head screws. The washers were 1 1/2" 316 Stainless steel.
I used a 4 1/2" Cut off wheel in a shore powered grinding tool to cut the excess lengths of the through bolts. Trick - wind a nut onto the screws before cutting, it's easy to use the nut to clean up the end of the screw from the grinding/cut off operation.
Any question about this upgrade? Just make a comment.
See you on the water.
Good work
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