Pulpit anchor chain guard Pilot 34

[JFisher]

What appear to be the simplest jobs always turn out to be a challenge, right? The piece of king starboard that protects my pulpit from the anchor chain and its shaft was cracked on one corner when I bought the boat. The cracked corner pieces have now completely separated and while the starboard plate still does its job, it is an eyesore. I thought it would be a simple task to remove the hardware, take off the old piece of starboard, cut a new piece and put it all back together. No such luck.

The bow cleat must have been attached to the pulpit, which is integrated in the upper deck, during assembly as only two of the four nuts on the machine screws attaching the cleat are accessible from the underside of the pulpit. The nuts holding the other two are not accessible. The are not accessible from inside the anchor locker as they are forward of that space. Anyone have any experience with this job, and what strategy did you use to deal with the two blind nuts buried in the small space between the pulpit and the hull at the bow? (pic below)


Thanks,
Jim

 

[backinblue]

What appear to be the simplest jobs always turn out to be a challenge, right? The piece of king starboard that protects my pulpit from the anchor chain and its shaft was cracked on one corner when I bought the boat. The cracked corner pieces have now completely separated and while the starboard plate still does its job, it is an eyesore. I thought it would be a simple task to remove the hardware, take off the old piece of starboard, cut a new piece and put it all back together. No such luck.

The bow cleat must have been attached to the pulpit, which is integrated in the upper deck, during assembly as only two of the four nuts on the machine screws attaching the cleat are accessible from the underside of the pulpit. The nuts holding the other two are not accessible. The are not accessible from inside the anchor locker as they are forward of that space. Anyone have any experience with this job, and what strategy did you use to deal with the two blind nuts buried in the small space between the pulpit and the hull at the bow? (pic below)


Thanks,
Jim



That's a tough one, but I'm sure someone smarter than me will have some ideas. BTW, you have the wrong anchor type. Just kidding!!! Good luck. Also, your pic wasn't viewable for me but found it here:

http://www.creeksideartifacts.com/pulpitproblem.jpg

 

[Blissboat]

As much as I like Mainships, and I really admire your Pilot, this is one of their occasional annoyances. Mainship value-engineered their production for high-volume, and reduced skilled labor. One way was by pre-assembling components and dropping them into the hull. It's admirably efficient manufacturing practice, but subsequent owners who actually have to service and maintain the boats suffer the consequences, as in this case.

You may have to drill out the two hidden bolts, and replace the Starboard plate with a new one sized and shaped differently, or perhaps with that cleat relocated to a new position. Attaching the new wear plate and cleat with fasteners drilled all the way through the pulpit, so that the next guy can deal with it more easily.

Be sure to seal up the old penetrations before re-assembling.

 

[DavidM]

I am pretty sure that piece of Starboard was not installed by Mainship. My 2003 Pilot 34 didn't have it. So if someone installed it, someone can remove it. Perhaps that pair of aft bolts are just tapped and screwed into the fiberglass, so unscrew them and see that happens.

David

 

[JFisher]

Thanks for the replies. I agree--- Mainship did not think of future owners and ease of service/repair when building these production boats.



David, I wish it were that simple. I tried to remove those aft two machine screws...they simply spun, which leads me to believe they also have nuts on them on the opposite side of the pulpit.



After removing all of the other screws I may try prying up on the starboard gently with hope that the remaining two nuts wedge up against the fiberglass underside of the pulpit and maybe I can ease the machine screws out. If that doesn't work my only other solution is to break away the starboard and use a hacksaw, sawzall, or dremel with a cutting disc to cut the machine screw heads off. I may not even replace the cleat afterward. There are cleats to port and starboard at the bow on which a bridle can be attached to the main anchor line to tie off.



Jim

 

[DavidM]

After removing all of the other screws I may try prying up on the starboard gently with hope that the remaining two nuts wedge up against the fiberglass underside of the pulpit and maybe I can ease the machine screws out. If that doesn't work my only other solution is to break away the starboard and use a hacksaw, sawzall, or dremel with a cutting disc to cut the machine screw heads off. I may not even replace the cleat afterward. There are cleats to port and starboard at the bow on which a bridle can be attached to the main anchor line to tie off.
Jim

That is exactly what I would do given that the bolts spin when you turn them.

David

 

[backinblue]

I also have a pilot and if I couldn't use the center cleat, I would just use one of the nearby bow cleats but cleat the line before it enters the pulpit. At least you don't need to use a bridle and probably less chafe than using the pulpit cleat.

 

[Dougcole]

Not sure if the starboard plate on your boat is original or not, but one of the irritating little things that Mainship did on all starboard fittings was use flat head screws with countersunk holes, which is fine, I guess, but they over tightened about 50% of them, resulting in split corners just like you have in your pic.


There are three or four spots on my boat that look just like that. Not the end of the world, but they bug me.

 

[JFisher]

Was able to remove the old chain guard starboard plate. Had to cut around the aft most through bolts with a chisel to be able to get a hacksaw under them to cut off the heads. Unfortunately, there was so little room beneath the remaining portion of the bolts and nuts they were unable to be pushed down into the void allowing for reuse of the existing holes. Had to relocate the cleat to the opposite site and drill new holes to attach the cleat. With no space in the void to accommodate toggle bolts, the aft two holes of the cleat had to be attached with screws leaving only the forward part of the cleat through bolted to the pulpit. In my research I did learn that this was a factory installation. I have seen other pilots made in the early 2000’s with the exact same feature. This cleat will only be used for fair weather day anchoring now.

 

[Blissboat]

Very interesting, Jim - thanks for "the rest of the story."

 

[rgano]

My Pilot 30 has that pulpit cleat as well, but all four bolts are accessible underneath the exposed portion of the pulpit. You can see the four-bolt pattern to port of the SuperMax anchor, but given the placement of the cleat out on an unsupported piece of fiberglass, there is NO way I'd trust it for anything but the lightest of duty. I attach my snubber to either of the two bow cleats secured to the deck.

I have the star board chain chafe protector too and am pretty sure it is OEM.