On Sun, 29 Aug 2010 20:28:45 -0700 (PDT), Katie Ohara
wrote:

On Aug 29, 7:57*pm, Tim wrote:
On Aug 29, 9:40*pm, bpuharic wrote:


haven't tried to get underneath the decking where the stanchions
are...but i think the screws were just screwed into the
fiberglass...worked well enough if you stay away from pilings!

My bow railing took a bad hit from an empty 55 gal steel drum in my
warehouse, and it bent the rail tubing really bad and broke some of
the mounts. I figured it would cost a small fortune to restore the
large loop-type railing so I took it off. I was amazed *that the long
wood *screws that held the mounts were drilled right though the
fiberglass with no backing. Most of the screws came out rather tough
too. *I was really surprised how that apparently with no other bonding
agents *holding the screws in, how stubborn those fasteners were
holding that tight.

Frogwatch here (yeah I know, I said I was gone but this is a real
boating topic).
How thick is this glass? Is it cored?
I would try to use backing plates. I make mine from G10 (glass/
plastic composite) that can be easily cut with hand tools and is so
strong it will outlast the rest of the boat. Get it from McMaster
Carr. As the area is hard to get to, you might want to epoxy the nuts
into the G10 so they will not turn as you tighten the bolts. Make the
bolt holes oversized to allow ease of getting the bolts to the G10
plate's bolts. Later, pour epoxy into the gap around the bolts.

If you really cannot get to the underside.
Look thru the McMaster Carr site for molly-type bolts in stainless.
Drill your bolt holes large enough and put in the molly bolts thru the
holes , tighten and then pour epoxy thickened with glass fiber around
the bolts.

I LOVE McMaster Carr and order about $200/wk from them for work. I
can use their catalogue as "interesting reading" just to find weird
stuff I never knew existed. Next day delivery too.

yeah i'm an engineer for a matierials science company and MC is the
bible of the company...kind of like 'acme' was to wiley coyote...