Loose Swim Platform and its weight limits

[jazzzman]

Hello from the Non-Frozen Great Lakes:
I have two loose swim platform brackets and I cannot tighten them. The studs are spinning at the bracket and I cannot seem to find the head to hold inside the transom. Has anyone had experience tightening these studs/brackets?
Also, I am considering a Hurley Dinghy Davit system on the swim platform; one one two stainless brackets. The URL is: http://www.hurleymarine.com/Davit.html
How much weight can each of these brackets hold? My dinghy and motor together weigh about 200lbs.
Thanks again for all your help and advice.
Dennis

[jleonard]

200 pounds is nothing. In mine it appears that the heads inside are glassed over. If that's the caseyou'll have to chisel them out so you can access them. If you go that far it might behoove you to remove them and make sure they are sound.

[psneeld]

I agree with Jay but have no personal knoledge of how the stud are actuall retained...I would help there woud be some kind of buried head.

My question for you is do you feel that the "davit" you plan on installing is high enough that you aren't worried about "pooping" your dingy in a choppy inlet/bad wake/etc?

[jazzzman]

Gentlemen:
Thank you for that information. There appears to be a cavity on the rear of the transom where the studs exit the transom. I don't want to weaken the boat by chopping around on a fishing expedition. Relative to the dinghy height, I plan to raise the platform two to five inches. The davit cradle will raise the dinghy another five to six inches. Do you think that is high enough? Dennis

[jleonard]

Gentlemen:
Thank you for that information. There appears to be a cavity on the rear of the transom where the studs exit the transom. I don't want to weaken the boat by chopping around on a fishing expedition.

I am talking about looking on the inside of the transom. On mine I can clearly see where the bolt heads are, they are just glassed over. It should not be fishing. It will be a precise insicion.
An alternate that might work to help you tighten the bolt would be to put a screwdriver slot in the bolt either with a hacksaw or a dremel grinding wheel (cutoff wheel) and use that to hold the stud while you tighten the nut.

[jazzzman]

Gentlemen:
Thanks for all you help. I will look inside for the heads. Dennis

[seblyte]

Hi Jazzzman, I have totally rebuilt my swim platform and found the following. You have a series of five wooden batons that are glassed in to the transom inside the boat. They are concealed behind the water tanks which I removed for the job. This is quite straightforward. You remove the restraining batons and unclip the hoses. Then you drop the rudder post and the tanks will lift out (quite a tight fit and make sure they are empty!) The wooden batons are made from teak beams. I had to cut them out from the transom and they were completely rotten. I suspect this is why you cannot tighten your bolts as they will be spinning. Once the beams are revealed you can unbolt the swim platform. I then fitted new batons and gunked them in with a high adhesive bedding compound. Sikaflex would work well although I use a Royal Navy product. I will take some pictures for you over the weekend to show the finished job. Job takes about a week.

[jazzzman]

Dear seblyte:
Thanks for the info, I look forward to your photos.
Dennis