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I've been prepping my new-to-me Islander 30 and need to run a cable or two up the steering pedestal for the GPS unit. I removed the compass and have been completely stymied by the bolts holding the compass base to the pedestal bowl. Teasingly, one bolt came out fairly easily. It's about four inches long with the bottom two inches threaded and has a flat head. The other three are pretty much welded in! I've tried dousing the entire visible lengths in ProBlast and have even used an impact screwdriver to no avail. Any secret tips on breaking through?
Not much to tell you other than they thread into the cast aluminium of the pedestal itself and they are probably corroded beyond belief.
If you start with a small hole and go bigger and bigger, can you drill the heads off from the top?
I had to break the plastic cylinder that held the compass up high, then was able to get the heads loose by turning them with vise grips (abuse, but allows for a lot more torque). My plastic cylinder was UV damaged, so this wasn't a big loss. I replaced my binnacle compass with a smaller surface mounted one (mostly to get the compass farther away from my GPS with it's magnetic SD slot door).
You need to take things apart all the way down below the engine controls to get a tap in there and make them smooth again.
Put it back together with new bolts and lots of Tefgel.
Interesting--I took the same tack as Alex and broke the plastic cylinder to be able to get a good shot at those bolts. I got a new cylinder from Edson (this was 4 years ago), and replacement bolts that were less likely to corrode. Better check, of course. I coated the threads in some Lancote before screwing them back.
I don't think you will have to break anything other than the bolts. Once you have drilled off the heads of the bolts you can disassemble everythig and get a more appropriate tool on whats left of the bolt shafts and remove them.
If all that fails you can cut the remaining shaft off, drill out the theaded end and retap the theads in the aluminium pedestal.
My decision was an easy one, I am in the process or rebuilding or replacing almost everything on my Offshore 33. Last weekend I was spinning the helm to see if the rudder turned freely, it was kinda stiff then it got real easy. Later on I while cleaning and prepping the engine compartment for paint, I noticed the entire Edson sheave assembly had corroded and broken into various assorted broken bits.
Now I have learned they make this assembly with different offsets to line up with the rudder, mine was a rusted mess. And don't cut the cable/chain assembly, they are freaking expensive.
I am thinking of changing the name of the boat to 'breaksalot'
Drill and tap them if they wint come out. On my ib30vone came out, and one broke inside...I drilled the heads on the remaining bolts and used vice grips to finally get them out. I re-tapped all of the holes as I reassembled. On my boat the chain had snapped and I bought 19 feet of replacement chain from grainger...much cheaper than Edson...good luck
Mine spun out - they had a square nut on the bottom that just fell down inside the pedestal. I replaced them with brass screws that look better and will remove a lot easier.
Lots of interesting advice. Thanks to all. An approach that I might take based on some Google searching is to use a Dremel to cut off the bolt under the sleeve, exposing the shaft of the bolt above the threaded area, then use a pair of Visegrips to twist out the bolt. Apply elbow grease, prayer, and appropriate cuss words--in random order. I'm not happy about the thought of drilling out the bolts! The threaded sections are about an inch or more as I recall. I'm also concerned about one of the posters mentioning that the bolts might be NLA as its an older unit (at least since 1983).
I had to do mine a couple of years back. Mine where not bolts but countersunk flat head 1/4" machine screws 6" long as I have an extender ring for the compass and engine controls. Drill the heads of, start with a very small pilot hole then a 5/16 drill to take the heads off. Invest in a good sharp/new cobolt drill, go slow and use cutting grease, don't get the head hot as it will harden and you will need to do something else. When the heads are off lift off the bezel you will now have four 1/4' pins to get out, I found a small pipe wrench worked best. WARNING WARNING do not apply any form of heat to the bolts as the pedestal is cast aluminum and will disintegrate.
I had to do mine a couple of years back. Mine where not bolts but countersunk flat head 1/4" machine screws 6" long as I have an extender ring for the compass and engine controls.
I have the same set up, so in retrospect I realize the screws (not bolts) are longer than the 4 inches I originally indicated. I'm encouraged that your approach worked. Another poster recommended using an electric impact driver. I'd like to give that a shot for two reasons: a) it would be much quicker and simpler it worked; b) I'd now have a new impact driver in my tool collection! Since one of the screws came out with just (correction: a lot) of arm muscle, I'm hoping the other three are just being stubborn and a nudge from the impact driver would move them along. The risk, of course, is that the screws might break at some awkward point as dictated by Murphy's Law.
FWIW--I contacted Edson about getting replacement screws. They confirmed the "drill out the heads and grab the remaining shafts with a vise grip" approach. Replacement screws are only $27 for a set of four! I asked if they were gold plated but didn't get a laugh.
I may have spoken too soon. When I went to the website, I saw that the screws Edson is selling are 3 1/2 Phillips heads. My screws are slotted flatheads. A call back to Edson resulted in the support tech admitting he knows nothing about that type of screw. So now I have to source them myself. Sigh.
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