Bolt Removal

[muddywater]

Do you guys have any tricks for getting all the screws and bolts out? I just finished grinding a perfectly good marinium cleat almost in half as well as 3 fittings for a perfectly good bow rail that I was going to give to anyone who wanted it, just to get some stupid bolts out. I don't know if they epoxied the freakin nuts on there or what. We broke a phillips screwdriver head in half on one before breaking out cobalt drill bits, bolt removers, propane torch, et cetera and finally resorted to the grinder when all else failed. I'm sure you all have noticed that you can't just grind the bolt off from the bottom because there is not enough room for a sawzall, grinder, dremel, or hacksaw. I guess there was one thing I did not try, which was penetrating catalyst because it has never worked on anything else I have tried it on.

Oh yeah, and does anybody have a clue how to get off Perko rod holders that appear to have nuts on the bottom (but there is no access)? Will I be grinding those off too?

It looks like the liner might have to come out. While I was climbing out of the boat today, the gunnel split longitudinally along one of the many stress cracks which appear to have been caused by the screws in the hull-to-cap joint. I am really trying put off taking the liner out for a while if at all possible though.

Thanks!!!

[1bayouboy]

I've always just drilled them out with a "good" drill bit the same diameter as the threads. Sometimes the screw will start to spin once the head is thinned down by the drill bit, and at that point if I can't get access to put visegrips on the back a small punch will sometimes just push it on through. I have a cordless drill with the right angle head that helps in the tighter spots to get a straight line into the screw head. You can also use smaller drill bits and in effect hollow out the threads. I've found this works pretty well on phillps head screws since they're self centering for the drill bit.

[EBEACH]

I have been using Muriatic Acid cut down with water or straight. It works great with rusted parts, and that white crusted stuff.

Use with caution!! It will eat metal. Keep your face away from the fumes.

[Bushwacker]

The best penetrating solvent I've found for seized bolts is Aerokroil (hppt://www.kanolabs.com) You can sometimes find it at a GOOD hardware store or order it direct from web site. Pratt & Whitney started using it on jet engines about 10 years ago on seized nickel alloy bolts. (They've yet to find a good antisieze that survives 1200F+!) A friend of mine had a side business overhauling turbochargers found out about it, had good results and got Pratt to try it. This stuff plus careful use of propane/acetelene wrench may help!

[muddywater]

Thanks for all the suggestions. It will have to wait until this weekend for me to try some of them.