Tear into swim platform or not?

Make sure the weld is in the center of the tube so when you drill it goes through the weld area,I used to be a die setter and we made the tubing bracketry for west coast mirrors on semis and the big tubes to mount rear fenders on semis,if its not near the center it will want to crack.
 
I broke my vice trying to flatten them ! I ended up using a 20 ton hydraulic press at the body shop. Flattened them like butter, and no cracks.
SCORPIO said:
Just get some stainless rail tubing of the appropriate size you need and cut to length and then flatten in a large vise or hammer flat with a BFH on an anvil or suitable surface. Then bend the angles you need in a vise, it won't take much to bend it once flattened.
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Rick K said:
I was thinking about that, but tried it with aluminum tubing first. When I flattened it in my vice, it ended up cracking. Figured that the stainless tubing would do the same thing (maybe not though?) and before I dropped the dough on that, I'd just try to find ones with the right length. Do you think that the stainless would crack?
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Don't worry about the aluminum cracking Rick. Stainless and aluminum are totally different animals. Aluminum will crack easily if not a 0 temper. Stainless is very formable and won't crack unless it is a hardened stainless grade.
 
1956olds said:
Make sure the weld is in the center of the tube so when you drill it goes through the weld area,I used to be a die setter and we made the tubing bracketry for west coast mirrors on semis and the big tubes to mount rear fenders on semis,if its not near the center it will want to crack.
Click to expand...

Sorry it's early for me I can't visualize that you are saying. I want to put a 1" by 2" SS plate at the end of each tube, the tube will be in the center and I will drill 2 holes on the plates, one above the tube and one below. These will be the holes that bolt the brace to the transom or the swim platform. It might have been the crummy way I explained it before that was confusing. One end of the tube will be under water and the other under the swim platform, I don't think I will sand a polish it, sounds too much like work for something that is only seen over the winter during layup.

Ken
 
That sounds like a good option Ken. More surface area to spread the load as well. I dont have anyone near by to weld stainless without sticking it up my........
 
I have a big old forged steel blacksmiths vise with a two foot handle on it and with length of pipe on it I just smashed the ends flat, no problem. A shop press would work better if you have access to one.
 
Yea, the first time I tried it on my cheapie Harbor freight bench vice, I did not have the strength to flatten it all the way, so I used a 24" hunk of 2" pipe for leverage...and the vice was in two pieces in a second! What a piece of crap. I guess you get what you pay for. LOL
SCORPIO said:
I have a big old forged steel blacksmiths vise with a two foot handle on it and with length of pipe on it I just smashed the ends flat, no problem. A shop press would work better if you have access to one.
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Stopped by the local welding/fabrication shop today and had them look at my braces. Since they do work for our company, he's gonna tig weld the cracks and clean 'em up for 30 bucks. Also said he can make me a set using thicker material should these not work out.

What a relief!! This is holding me up from getting in the pond!!!!!
Thanks for all the replies...
Rick
 
Nice find on the braces and almost being done with the repair
I cut the complete underside of platform off today, with the cut off wheel it took me 2 hours, nice easy job. I have a 1hp dust extractor with a 4" hose so there was no dust at all, I also wore my full face fresh air respirator. All the wood is wet and is coming out, I will start a new thread on this once I am done but I wanted to post one item in this thread. The wood that is used in the swim platforms is exterior grade #4 sheathing, what a disappointment to see this crap being used on something that requires a lot of strength. This boat sold new for almost $100,000.00 in 1988 at least that is what the local dealer that sold it here got for it, I'm the 3rd owner and all sales have gone through the same Sea Ray dealer and the same salesman. Not one hole drilled by the factory was sealed, the swim platform has been wet on the inside since the first day this boat hit the water back in 1988. The area around the teak inserts was cracked on each side at the seams and I suspect that this is caused buy the water freezing and expanding in the winter layup.


Ken
 
Ken, glad to hear your rolling on the platform. Thats too bad it was all wet. I must have lucked out on mine, it was 90 percent dry. I cut out the wet stuff. Boy, $100,000.00 was a lot of dough back in 88! I wonder what it would be in todays dollars? Keep us posted with pics.....we love pics ! LOL
 
Good luck on the project Iprof... I know what you mean about no holes being sealed. I have to blame that on one of the previous owners (I'm the 3rd on mine) who put the platform on. I don't think this is a factory platform. I had a few cracks down where yours are, where the inserts go in. I just took a 3M prep pad on my air die grinder and "scuffed" it a bit, then filled it in with the epoxy adhesive I use.

I'll measure the success of the job in about 2 months, when my fat ass jumps down onto the platform and into the water!
 
Ken, your platform sounds exactly like mine, right down to the seperation by the inserts. Mine was made worse by a PO drilling 8 quarter inch holes near the edge for brackets to mount a dinghy and not using any sealer. I agree with the freez/thaw idea. Have fun with your project, glad mine is done.
 
I weighed my swim platform again now that all the wood has been removed and it weighs 40 lbs, WOW that's 70 lbs less than when I weighed it with the wood in. The wood looked great on one side but the other side it is rotten I have taken a lot of pictures and once I am done I will post all of them in a new thread, can't believe it could hold all that water. I am now in the reconstruction stage fit the wood tomorrow and fiberglass on Sunday.

Ken
 
Believe it or not, I'm finally ready to stick my platform back on the transom. It's been non-stop rain and very cool, so epoxy took way longer to set up.

A few pages back, I had some braces fixed, which were just stainless tubes, flattened on one end, with drilled holes, etc. I got another boat guy up here that's saying now, I should use these, as they're stronger.

So, I'm looking for opinions, and, a place to buy the brackets separately. I see yachtsofstuff.com sells the entire brace, but that's about it. Plus, I'd have to put custom length tubing in, etc.

Anyone have any advice? Stick with what I have, or try and make something up? I think the old ones cracked because of age, movement, etc. I don't think this thing is ever going to rot again, but would like the strongest thing I could get.

Thanks!
 
Those look like nice braces, probablly expensive but I'm sure they would work fine. Depends on how much you want to spend. Can you get them to a custom length? That would be the best, give them your dimensions and have them put the right length of tubing in and all you have to do is bolt it on.
 
I'm still a ways away from mounting my platform.

Ken
 

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The braces are about 30 bucks a piece, plus shipping. See http://www.yachtsofstuff.com/userPostings.asp?xID=yachtsofstuff&cexs=dnd4 They come in 12" and 16" lengths. I'd have to tear them apart, just to get those end brackets, then put my own tubing in (after buying 5 feet of that as well). It's not a super expensive propostion, IF they're going to be stronger than what's already on there. It's work I really don't want to do, unless of course someone here with more knowledge on this than I have tells me otherwise. Personally, I don't see the difference though.
 
Well that looks familiar ! Looks about a deep as mine. Lookin good Ken. A little better weather would be good huh.
Iprof said:
I'm still a ways away from mounting my platform.

Ken
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Rick, I think you will be fine with the origional tubes, after all they lasted how long? My platform is solid as a rock with just my 3 old tubes. If money is an issue, I'd stay with the old tube design.
 
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