Cee-Vee stock...I give up!

You've got a measurement certificate with the new stock I assume?!? Non? Who ever sold you that stock as a Europe stock has seen you off!

Originally posted by AlexM http://www.diytools.co.uk/diy/Main/sp-69-4745-25989-draper-2 -piece-plain-slot-pz-type-angle-screwdriver-set.asp

Ian, I had exactly this problem a few weeks back because the pin bit in the thing had gone wobbly (sorry for the overuse of technical jargon).  I struggled for ages then got the above from a local olde worlde hardware shoppe and they did the job along with a lot of sweat and cursing and a box spanner thing sold by Halfords for bikes.  This did the trick, but putting the thing back together again has been just as much fun...

...because according to the well known chandlers where I bought it, that is the Europe stock, and that's how it comes, assembled in that way, and that way only.  But Europes were made by many different builders...and as that "Europe" stock is also listed for other classes, it's a fair assumption that not every boat that the stock is destined for is configured in the same way. The mould that our Europe popped out of is clearly set up for two small right angle s/s gudgeons on the hull.  Trust me, if I could have just changed the hull fittings easily, I would.

And no, I would'nt be "crying like a baby", what a daft thing to say. I can remove almost every other part on any boat I sail including the rig, racks, foils, and remove any "wear parts" without resorting to an angle grinder as it's designed to come apart should you need to dismantle it.  Jeez, you can even get a keel off a yacht by undoing the keelbolts...no grinder required!

And from above, I'm not the first person to experience this!

(And finally, 20kts in a Europe, now that really would be a code brown!)

GRRRRRR goddamit CeeVee!  Crap design!!!!

Basically, they confirmed it was an angle grinder job, so off came £20 of brand new gudgeon and in the bin it went.  I then managed to source some short countersunk s/s M5 bolts, but putting them in from the inside (as before) meant that the countersinks in the thin ally folded body of the stock were not deep enough to contain all of the countersunk part of the screw head, and it would have fouled the top of the rudder when raising/lowering it.

So I had to clamp a belt sander upside down in my workmate, hold the bolts in pliers and grind the heads down a bit, then fit them from the inside, and loctite the nuts on.

I have to say, this kind of thing bloody annoys me, at the end of the day a gudgeon is a wear part (no it was not the type with the replaceable bush), so why not either supply the thing without a bottom fitting, so we can choose what we want, or just supply it loose.  Or, ask SeaSure to supply the fittings undrilled, and then attach it with staggered bolts, so if you remove the rudder blade you have a hole on one side of the stock allowing you to get a screwdriver or even better an allen key onto the bolt head.  Getting it off with a grinder is a nightmare.

Rant over!!!

Try drilling down the centre of the bolt, then use a stud extractor

 

They're left handed tapered threads in hardened steel - if you can hold the nut, then it's quite likely that the screw will wind out.

Sometimes the heat of drilling the screw will free the thread as well!

Colin