On Sat, 28 Aug 2010 23:54:01 -0500, Jim wrote:



Filling and gluing in holes with wood dowel stock is old as the hills.
Dowel comes in hardwood and softwood in 1/8" to +2" stock.
I've even glued in toothpicks in a pinch.
Tim's suggestion to tap a suitable Marinetex filler will work.
But stanchions get stressed and are a safety concern.
I would drill new holes and epoxy in threaded inserts.
Non-expanding type.
Examples here.

as i think about the stanchions, i'm not sure there was a backing
plate. 2 things tell me this:

1. no damage to the deck around the stanchions at all
2. the threads on the screws weren't stripped

if there was a backing plate, (metal) either the whole plate should
have been pulled through the deck or the screws should have been
stripped when they were pulled out of the backing plate.

of course, if the plate were wood instead of metal, then it would be a
whole different ballgame