I having been doing some much needed regular maintenance on my new to me 2001 Getaway before her planned maiden voyage last Saturday. So Last Friday night I went to replace the rusted bolt in the Starboard Bow Spreader and its sheered off inside the crossbar... I knew the bolt was in bad shape but I didn't think it was that bad... I couldn't get it out with pliers or vice grips it didn't have enough solid material left. Of course this was all at about 9:30pm so I had to race to AutoZone to get an extractor set before they closed. I was able to drill down the center of the bolt and managed to avoid trashing the aluminum end block the bolt is set in to. It took about two hours but I finally got it out... I replaced both bolts with Stainless Steel.
Just another surprise from the PO...
I also replaced the lacing line on the front tramp, might as well since I had to unlace and remove the front tramp to get the hulls far enough apart to remove the front crossbar to be able to get to the broken bolt.
I also finished rebuilding the rudders (replaced cams and plungers, filled the new cams with epoxy for extra strength). I didn't get to paint the rudders like I wanted so that might wait til after the season now. Getting the plastic spacers back in between the castings and rudders was quite the PITA. So not something I want to repeat right now...
The good news is that I was able to compete the "had to fix" list Saturday morning so we could take her out on her maiden voyage, well at least her first with us...
The winds were up and we had a great day!