Tab mounting screw - Sheared off head - Disheartened to say the least

[Racer944]

Hi Guys;

Well, I just got a new Impulse 31 from my LHS and took her out of the box tonight. Looks really nice and I was looking forward to giving her a test run in the next few days. Started to work on her and first thing I noticed was that one of the tabs was not level (side to side) so I decide to do what the manual says to adjust them and loosened the screws that hold them to the hull. First one was fine, but as I began to loosen the second one, the head sheared off the bolt... and now I am left with a huge problem that may be impossible to solve properly. To say I am disheartened is an understatement...

Thought I would post this as a warning to others to be very careful... In my case I cannot access the broken screw from the outside or the inside, as when it was drilled, the screw actually went into the rib structure and not through the transom like the other screw so I can bsarely even see where it would be let alone grab any part of it.

Any advice is welcome... although I think I know that the only way to fix this properly would be to drill it out, and I am afraid that will be very trickly if not impossible without doing damage given that this is into fiberglass. I think I basically have a brand new never run display model...

Thanks for reading... just had to tell someone...

Eric

[OldSkoolMC]

Use a drill press. You'll get it out.

[Fluid]

Display model!?! Besides drilling (very risky as the bit will want to deflect to the softer fiberglass), the other option is to position the tab where you want it and use epoxy and the remaining bolt to hold it in place. This should work well, and it gets you going without much more drama.



.

[Racer944]

I am giving the repair a shot, I am going to try drilling it out first and if it gets too difficult or looks like I will damage too much, I will rethink. As for threading it once I have it drilled, I will try a threaded insert, or see what I can do to bolt from the inside (issue there is its almost into the stringer so no real flat surface inside).

Either way I am getting this on the water one way or another, its too nice not to have fun with!

Cheers;
Eric

[de-pro]

I have experimented in the past with the Grabit tool when trying to get the 3mm broken screw from the crankshaft of my nitro engine:

http://www.amazon.com/Alden-4507P-Gr.../dp/B000Q60UOO

[Racer944]

Well, after much patience and a few drill bits, I managed to get the sheared screw drilled out. the hole ended up being large than the original however but that was not unexpected, after removing a tiny bit of stringer material inside, I managed to get a blind nut of the saem size as the originla screw installed. I then greased the screw, screwed it into the blind nut partially, and then filled the gap in the transom around the screw with epoxy. Once it setup, I had a perfect repair job with a screw that was now fully functional again and solidly mounted. Only issue left was that the epoxy was not colored white, but it turns out the tab hid the complete repair job so you can't see anything. I was pretty happy with the work... so I also took the opportunity to mount a set of Speedmaster adjustable tabs (mounted/modified as suggested by Darin Jordan)

Moral of the story, listen to advice, step back and think before doing any work, and take your time!

Now I gotta get her out and do some running... and then test out that new Octura X645 Prop!

Cheers;
Eric

Impulse 31 repaired trim tab screw and Speedmaster tabs 2.jpg Impulse 31 repaired trim tab screw and Speedmaster tabs.jpg

[lectriglide]

Watch the temps closely if you are running that x645 on the stock setup.

[JimClark]

I believe Darin told me they were the same hole spacing as another hardware manufacturer (the name escapes me right now)