emb301
New Member
Disappearing swim ladder mounting nuts!
I took my swim ladder off a few weeks ago to repaint and one of today's chores was to reinstall. Imagine my surprise when I discovered the bolts had no nuts! Because the screws came out with no problem, I expected the nuts were captive, apparently a mistake. Now I have to figure out how to get nuts on the underside of the swim platform. I can access (if you want to call it that) the underside from the bilge, but not enough to get a hand back to the mounting holes. Here's how I'm thinking about the fix: I will make a brace from a piece of 1/4" aluminum, drill holes using a ladder mount as a template and super glue locknuts onto the brace. I'll either make the brace long enough to be able to hold it in place while the Captain starts the screws, or make a holder from a pair of vice grips and something else using duct tape and bailing twine. Any suggestions?
I took my swim ladder off a few weeks ago to repaint and one of today's chores was to reinstall. Imagine my surprise when I discovered the bolts had no nuts! Because the screws came out with no problem, I expected the nuts were captive, apparently a mistake. Now I have to figure out how to get nuts on the underside of the swim platform. I can access (if you want to call it that) the underside from the bilge, but not enough to get a hand back to the mounting holes. Here's how I'm thinking about the fix: I will make a brace from a piece of 1/4" aluminum, drill holes using a ladder mount as a template and super glue locknuts onto the brace. I'll either make the brace long enough to be able to hold it in place while the Captain starts the screws, or make a holder from a pair of vice grips and something else using duct tape and bailing twine. Any suggestions?