JimH wrote:
On Jul 28, 4:20 pm, hk wrote:
Chuck wrote:
I know... I only post when I have a problem. This happened two weeks
ago. The bolt on the front outer piling holding the boat lift cradle
pulley sheared right off and the boat went in the drink. Photos of the
boat, the bolts, and some telltale corrosion streaks are stored at the
links below.
www.thespaceexplorers.com/corrodedbolts3.jpg (boat in water)
www.thespaceexplorers.com/corrodedbolts1.jpg (3/4 galv. bolts corroded
away to nothing)
http://www.thespaceexplorers.com/cor...olts2.jpg(bolt rust stains on pulley
housing)
OK. So my question is.......... is there any way to diagnose a
galvanized bolts integrity before it rusts through like this again? I
can't seem to find my portable X-ray machine. I also can't quite
figure out how to do a simple swapout on the other three. I don't know
anybody who swaps their lift bolts out every few years!
Chuck
Since apparently no one was injured, the important questions:

Was the boat damaged? Will your insurance cover any damages to the boat
or the lift?

Maybe you need to check the area for stray electrical currents...and
also change all the bolts and use nuts and bolts you can swap out every
season.

I have seen bolts looking like that taken off a wooden roller coaster
being restored. A friend of mine was helping with the restoration.
In this case constant friction and tension was the problem.

As a side note: Chuck, no offense but I can understand why you posted
the question here and not at your place. ;-)


Different chuck, methinks.

Anyone, sort of connected, I pull a couple of bolts on my boat trailer
every year, just to see how they are doing, and I pull the wheels once a
season, mainly to make sure I can get them off if I have a flat, but
also to see what is going on behind them, in corrosion.

Corrosion can be a real problem on salt water boats, especially. When I
installed the deck hardware on my Parker, I first took the hardware down
the street from the dealer to a metal working shop, and had the owner
cut stainless steel backing plates for me, so that the stainless steel
hardware and stainless steel nuts and bolts would be touching only
stainless steel, not aluminum. Stainless in contact with aluminum can be
a problem.

The backing plates were cut from a piece of 3/8" stainless scrap the guy
had in the shop. He cut four different plates for me and drilled them
for $20 total.