Given new feet, they’ll last a few more years

Issue 126: May/June 2019

By owning five boat stands for more than 20 years, I have saved the annual rental cost of $25 per stand when my Grampian 30 is hauled and stored every winter. That’s a cumulative savings of $2,500 so far. But last year, I noticed that although I clean, paint, and lubricate the stands annually, the bases of the legs were corroding from sitting on the ground year in and year out. I didn’t want to spend my savings on new stands, so I came up with a way to extend their life.

The boat-stand legs are 1-inch steel pipe, and I installed a 1-inch-diameter galvanized hex-head bolt, 4 inches long, into the end of each one. The bolt heads became the feet on which the stands sit. It is unlikely that they will corrode away in my lifetime.

The bolts cost $3.64 each at BoltDepot.com, and the total cost for all 15 bolts for the five stands, including tax and shipping, was $54.68.

The pipe ends were originally cut at an angle so they would sit flat on the ground. I recut them at 90-degrees to the pipe itself to remove the corroded ends (photo 1).

Photo 1

Depending on how tightly they fit, which was affected by the extent of the corrosion and distortion where the cross braces were welded to the legs, I could hammer or screw the bolts into the pipe ends (photo 2). Some bolts, though, were a loose fit. If I’d had access to a welder, I could have secured them with a tack weld. Instead, I mixed a small batch of Bondo for each pipe and bolt, worked a bit into the pipe end and onto the bolt threads and shank, then pushed the bolt home and let it set for a few hours. After I sanded and painted them, the stands were good to go (photo 3).

Photo 2

Photo 3

Jim Donovan has sailed the New England coast for some 45 years. These days, now he’s getting on in years (77), he confines himself to Massachusetts Bay. He has owned and sailed a Venture 24, a Grampian 26, and his current Grampian 30, likely his last boat. Aboard a fellow sailor’s Contest 33, Jim has ventured to Antigua via Bermuda, to the Azores via the Gulf Stream, and most recently with a different friend, to St. Thomas on a Valiant 40.

 

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