323 rear pulpit

[Valor]

Hi Everyone,

I'm looking to rebed the pulpits on the boat and I noticed there appears to be some sort of a gasket between the pulpit and the boat on all of the rear pulpit mounts.? It's probably about an 1/8th thick or so. I didn't want to remove it yet until I knew what it was and if i can still get some. Maybe a hard rubber spacer? Any idea's?? Thanks.

Michael

[Alma]

Yes it is a hard plastic. And it has lasted many many years. Why do you want to disturb it?

[Valor]

I need to rebed all of my stantions and while i was at it, i was going to do them all. Have you done yours at all?

[selene]

I redid all if mine. Removed the stanchions (labelled first!). Used a dremel router bit to remove some of the core, leaving the screw holes in the fiberglass "skin" untouched. Filled with epoxy. Redrilled the holes, bedded the stanchions using butyl tape.

So far, no leaks; but I did have to go around and re-tighten the screws after around 6 months, once things settled.

The most time consuming part was getting around to doing the work! The P323 has great access, so it was fairly quick and straightforward.

[Alma]

My stanchions are still tight and dry. I did have to have my push-pit re-welded at the struts and it is funny I see that same crack in many 323 push-pits. Maybe that smaller tubing is a slightly different alloy. I bought some white synthetic gasket material and this was 15 years ago. The bow and stern mounting flanges require something to make up for them being a little different from each other- the stanchions should lie very flat and need little goo or gasket. My stanchions are all original and still water tight. Since the stanchions are mounted to a cored deck the method Selene used is best. A small doughnut of butyl around the fasteners is all you need. If you butyl the whole base you'll chase oozing for along time. The issue is as the butyl flows, the fasteners will become loose and rocking of the bases will work the remaining butyl out and allowing water in. Rocking bases can also shift the epoxy so try to make them very secure. When you remove the bases you may see the gaskets are fine... Then I'd use Selene's epoxy treatment and reuse the gaskets. The original backing plates are good. Reuse them.