SOLAR BIMINI PART SIX: DECK WORK

Now comes the hardest part for me of my Solar Bimini project. Hard for me because it involves drilling holes in the deck. I just don't like making holes in the boat. Accidentally or on purpose. But, in this case it can't be helped. I need to have the the rear frame securely attached to the deck. I looked at several different ideas for fittings for the 1 inch frame tubing and decided that a 90 degree stanchion base mounted on the deck would be the best choice. I'm using a 1/2 inch piece of Starboard as a backing plate too.

Some things you might want to consider when purchasing a base like this for a deck mount is how does it handle excess water. Since it will be mounted on a relatively flat deck water can accumulate underneath the stanchion from the deck or by running down the frame tubing. You don't want that water to hang around under the base. Especially if your boat experiences freezing temperatures for some time of the year. That's why you want a base that looks like this underneath:

See that horizontal groove? That will allow any water that accumulates underneath the base or in the tubing frame to drain away. If the stanchion you buy does not have such a groove you might want to cut one in yourself.
Freezing water aka ICE can exert a lot of force if allowed to collect in tight places. Best to prevent that anyway you can.

Once I had the deck location for the rear frame landing chosen. I laid out some 3M painters tape on the deck to transfer the stanchion hole patterns to it. 

I then drilled holes through the deck where the mounting screws would pass through. CAPT. MIKE NOTE: Always check underneath the deck before drilling to make sure you will not be drilling into any wiring or other obstructions.

After the holes were drilled I routed out the core material between the deck using a Dremel Tool with a  #115 bit. I then filled the void with thickened epoxy (taping the holes underneath the deck with a strong tape to prevent it from draining.  This helps waterproof the area of the deck around the holes. Compass Marine has a great tutorial on the process here. After the Epoxy hardened I re-drilled the holes through the Epoxy and counter sunk them.

I used Life Calk for the bedding of the bolts. You could also other bedding materials like butyl tape if you want.

You can see the stanchion base for the rear solar bimini frame bolted through the deck in the above photo with the solar bimini frame inserted into it. Well,  the hard part is over now all the I need to do is connect the rear solar bimini frame to the existing dodger frame and mount the solar panels. That will be shown in the next solar bimini post.

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BONDING AND ANTI-BONDING WITH YOUR BOAT

One day I was down below checking the mast area and noticed some water dripping off one of the bolts that held the deck mast collar to the partner area. This is not good. So I figured it was time to re bed the mast collar. Since water was leaking from the deck. The photo below shows the  mast collar as it is installed on the deck.

I was not looking forward to this because the scuttle butt was that this collar was bedded at the factory with 3M 5200 adhesive. This is known as an especially tenacious adhesive. People often say once you use 5200 on something consider it permanently attached to your boat. I had owned BIANKA for over ten years at this point and as far as I knew the mast collar had never been removed. So I was expecting a real battle in getting the metal collar removed from the deck.

I removed all the bolts and took out a mallet, heat gun and chisel expecting to spend a lot of time trying to remove the collar. Much to my surprise the collar just lifted off with a simple hand pull. So it goes! No wonder it had been leaking as the bond between the 5200 and the cast aluminum collar was virtually non existent. I also found the the remaining 5200 was still very pliant after all these years as shown below:

This pulled off rather easily too. There was some of the adhesive that need to be cleaned up however. For this I used a product called Anti-Bond 2015 . It really helps in removing and cleaning up adhesives like 5200. I just sprayed it on the area I where I wanted to remove the adhesive and let it sit for a bit. Then I used a Proprep detail scraper to peel the remaining 5200 from the area.

In a few minutes I had the whole collar area cleaned and ready for a new coat of 5200 for re bedding the mast collar. A quick wipe down with a little solvent on a rag to remove any of the residue remaining. I also did the same for the underside of the metal mast collar.

BEFORE

AND AFTER

Now that it is time to re bed I wanted to make sure I would avoid getting any of the 5200 on the bolts as I insert them. I want to be able to remove them easily in the future. NOTE: I do put a dab under the bolt head to seal it where it rests on the mast collar.  I made circles around the bolt holes with 5200. This would allow me to insert the bolts cleanly back into the holes without getting the 5200 on the threads. But would also make sure the bolts were sealed when the collar was put back on the deck. As shown below:

NOTE: You can also see the blue 3M masking tape that I installed around the outside of the collar before I removed it. It helps make it easier to clean up any of the 5200 that squeezes out from under the collar. I also put 5200 on the underside of the mast collar in a continuous heavy bead again avoiding getting it into the bolt holes. I then placed shims on the deck and rested the collar on them so that it was slightly raised off the deck. This allows me to place the bolts in the holes without getting 5200 on the threads as I insert them:

After the bolts were installed and the shims removed the collar was laying on the deck. I applied a little pressure to set the collar. But, because 5200 takes a number of days to fully cure. I waited a week before I tightened the bolts down to secure the collar. The collar was re bedded three years ago and has not leaked since. Hopefully, it will be another twenty years before I have to do it again.