Re attaching a pulled out pedestal seat

[ackparker]

The passenger side pedestal seat in my older Steiger craft has pulled out of a soft floor. I had planned on drilling out the original holes and filling them with as much epoxy as possible and then drill pilot holes and reset the screws. Anybody have a better way? Any advise would be appreciated. Thanks

 

[Megabyte]

That is the proper method of repairing pulled out screws, but depending on how soft the floor is, that may not be the wisest thing to do.

A better repair would be to replace the soft wood first, and then re-mount the seat using the method you outlined. We have members here who have repaired soft spots on their boats in the past, and can probably guide you with this repair.

Good luck!

 

[DaleH]

First mask the area with blue tape and trace a circle of the seat base onto the floor and drill through for each of the 6 bolt holes the former seat base used.

I cut a 4” hole right under the center of the seat. Then I wet-out in epoxy 2 oak pieces, up to 12” long, 1” thick by a 2+” wide and glued them to the underside of the floor, 1 on each side of the hole so that each piece would catch 2 of the 6 bolts that held the seat base in position.

Then I did the same with 2 smaller lengths, so that they would catch 1 bolt each, the ones most forward and then aft. ALL pieces were oriented fore-to-aft on the boat, as this orientation takes the most stress loading. If/as needed, secure them to the floor by using SS drywall screws from above. All is OK as long as you stay within the circle of the base you sketched onto the floor.

Then, use Togglers, get them from MSC Fasteners, click here and attach them into the floor. Then use SS machine screws to fasten the seat base to the new structural beams, that are all coated in epoxy. Simple, stronger than the floor itself, and the hole gets covered once the seat is put back. Plus by using Togglers, you can still remove the base if needed and you get the strength of bolts. NEVER EVER use wood screws when you can through-bolt or use this methos described here-in or even this other method.

Oh yeah, wet-out the cut edge of the hole you cut into the floor.