On my Catalina 36 1987, I have double deck organizers made by Schaefer. One of the plastic sheaves finally disintegrated, after years of use. I'm trying to upgrade to newer UV resistant types. When I was attempting to remove the deck organizer, the bolts, of which there are two, appear to have been epoxied in place through the deck. I can rotate them with difficulty. It's like they are spinning with the epoxy they are bedded in. My question is how to remove these bolts without destroying the deck. I’m thinking heating the bolts somehow to loosen the grip on the epoxy and then push them out. Does anyone else have any ideas? As always with newer hardware, the center to center bolt pattern for the double deck organizer is 2.25 inches and the original is 2.5 inches, meaning I will have to drill at least one new hole anyway.
I ran into a similar problem when rebedding the traveller. The two long bolts on each side that go through the deck did the same thing but it wasn't epoxy holding them it was sealant, probably 5200. I spun them a lot with a drill and got them moving freely. Then I put the nuts back on the bottom flush with the end of the bolt and tapped them with a hammer until they started to move a bit. Then from above, tapped them back down, then up, and so on. Finally I took the nuts off and with a long skinny punch I tapped them up through. They are about 8" long so it was important not to trash the threads since I have no source of supply for a bolt that long locally. I considered lubing it with oil or water but decided against both since I was going to immediately re-bed them and I figured that would do bad things for getting a good seal.
I replaced the deck organizers on both sides of my boat (1991 C36) with the "double deckers" from Garhauer. I believe the bolts connect to an aluminum plate in the glass, which is tapped to accept the bolt. I was able to get the bolts out ok. You are correct that the center-to-center distance of the bolts in the replacement deck organizers are slightly different than the original organizers. I'm afraid I defaulted to the time-honored technique of just cramming the bolt in, using the largest screwdrive I could find. I am sure that if and when I remove the new deck organizers, I will have a mess, and will have to relocate the organizer and tap new holes in the aluminum, and fill in the old holes
Good luck getting the bolt out.
--Nelson Lee
Nelson Lee, "Stella," 2002 C36, hull 2069, Universal M35BC, berthed Sausalito, CA