Stanchions

I pull all my deck hardware every three years or so, including stanchions, and rebed it with Boatlife caulk. Doing this prevents (generally) water intrusion into the deck and leaks below. Using vicegrips, particularly if working alone, clamp the little grabbers belowdecks on the nut of the bolt you''re removing. Undo. You''ll hear it drop when you''re done. Repeat. Clean all surfaces well with acetone. Scrape away all the old caulking. Put Boatlife caulk on the, say, stanchion base and the deck where the stanchion will sit. You''re making a watertight rubber gasket. Dab a little caulk in each bolt hole and on the threads of the bolt and under the bolt head. Put the bolts back in the stanchion base through the deck. Put some caulk on the backing plate (helps fill voids and misshapen areas of overhead deck). Fit everything together and reattach the nuts. Bring up to pressure, but don''t fully tighten the bolts yet. Let the caulk set up for a day or so, then tighten down. Cut away excess (abovedecks anyway) with a razor blade and clean up with acetone. Sounds involved, but my son and I have leisurely done a 35'' boat on the dock in a day or so. Trick is having help down below. KW