external water pickup, TRS drive...

[ZekesterbluH3]

I'm trying to pull the external water pick-up when I strip the hull, repair, and repaint with bottom paint.

it's located to the left of the drive, standing behind the prop, and held onto the transom by 3 fasteners, two lower through bolts, no problem, the third is up higher, it looks like a 3/16 phillips ss countersunk head and goes into the hull behind the transom plate...

I can't find a nut for it on the inside, and it just spins on the outside...

surely..they didn't install the third upper bolt with a counter sunk nut and put the transom plat on after? did they?? or could the third bolt be a screw into the transom, that is stripped?
any help, would be appreciated....

[gcarter]

If it were me, I'd just drill the head off the screw, and no matter how they assembled it, you could always correct it later.

[ZekesterbluH3]

But...if I drill the head off, I'm stuck with a stud sticking out..I won't be able to get the fastener off the other side, when it comes time to put the pickup back on, i have to move it, or do something goofy...

the actual stress on it (the top fastener) could be compression, as I think it would pull like hell on the bottom two, and push in at the top, 12 inches away...

I could drill it out, take off the pickup, yank, reef, or drill the rest of the stud out, then epoxy some kind of captured nut, or helicoil type insert into the transom....

I'm trying to avoid pulling the drive and the transom plates...

[gcarter]

I think I'd pull the drive and do it right, but that's just me.

[ZekesterbluH3]

I'd like to, but one, not my boat, two short season here, and I already have tons to do....

if it was my own, i'd have pulled the engine and drivetrain long time ago...

[gcarter]

Just wondering......have you tried wedging something under the pickup near the offending screw and using the long lower part of it to pull the fastener out?
It just might come out.
Or break.....

At least the pickups are still available.

[ZekesterbluH3]

It's the flat against the transom type...sticking out below the hull...

if it's a wood screw, I'll just spin it and pull at the same time, but I have the pickup loose at the lower edge, no movement at the top...and the screw spins...

I'll try to spin it out tomorrow morning .....
thanks....

[ZekesterbluH3]

It was a bolt....

drilled it, the bit kept catching it spinning it, so whatever was on the other side pulled into the transom, once it caught, I grabbed the bolt head and it loosened...

so now there is some form of nut in ther somewhere...

of interest, the pick up has the main hole at bottom...and another at the top, that just butts aganst the transom...so the water just deadheads against the transom....

[farmer tx]

Are you sure you want to bottom paint that boat?

[ZekesterbluH3]

I think i have to...the PO put about 8 coats on, I've got some dings, spots where the gelcoat is coming off in chunks about 1 inch by two, i'm fibreglassing the damaged areas, I'm going to seal it with interprotect, and VC17 it....it's going to be left in freshwater, so I want it sealed and anti fouled...

I don't want to paint it, but i think i have to : (

[ZekesterbluH3]

the top hole isn't threaded, and actually isn't perfectly round, it's cast and kind of oblong...I'm going to carefully drill, tap and plug it....

as for the nut inside, I'm thinking up ideas...I can't just put the bolt back in, I can't get it tight, I can't get the nut without pulling the drive and interior transom plate...I may put a plate on the rear, on the outside, but set into the transom and screwed into the transom, with a captured nut to take the bolt...

[gcarter]

as for the nut inside, I'm thinking up ideas...I can't just put the bolt back in, I can't get it tight, I can't get the nut without pulling the drive and interior transom plate...I may put a plate on the rear, on the outside, but set into the transom and screwed into the transom, with a captured nut to take the bolt...
You could determine how deep the nut is in the transom, fill the hole w/an epoxied dowel down to the nut, then seal the end grain of the dowel w/some thin epoxy. Then screw into the dowel.
Or you could drill the hole out to size of the nut and extract it through the hole, fill the somewhat larger hole w/a dowel, fill the hole in the gel w/some patch paste, redrill, tap drill the dowel, seal w/epoxy, re-install w/appropriate screw, etc.

[BigGrizzly]

Actuslly my criterion had two screws and one nut and bolt.

[farmer tx]

This is an new old stock I found on ebay and it came with two oval head bolts for the bottom two holes and one hex head lag bolt and stainless washer for the top hole. Also the gasket was included. I like Georges idea, hammer a dowel covered with resin into the hole and redrill. It will be behind the pickup.

[ZekesterbluH3]

I did similar for some other stripped out areas....I'm going with the drilling to extract the nut, then driving in an epoxied full transom width dowel...

will post results...