Reading JimCT's last post got me thinking about all of the road blocks I have run into so far. This weekend it was way too windy to go out so I decided to replace all the deck/inspection plates. Mine were severely weathered, some of the rings cracked, nasty caulk and silicone oozing out around them. The one near the gas fill had rotted away and had a 1/2" hole in it. I ran down to the local marine surplus because I knew they had boxes of new deck plates. No problem, right? I needed 4 ea. 4" and 4 ea. 6". I got the plates for about 2/3 of West Marine's price. I guess the standards have changed. The 4" mounting rings would not fit into the old 4" holes. I had to take a rasp and open up the glass just a little. Now the screw holes don't match. I mixed some epoxy and cabosil and filled and sanded the old holes. The old screws were SS and should not be a problem. Right! The old mounting rings were thicker and therefore the counter sunk holes were deeper. The original screws were dome type heads, not flat. They were fine in the old rings but the screws stuck up too far for the new plate to screw down flush. By now, the hardware store with a good selection of SS screws is closed and my only choice is back to West Marine and pay triple price for #8 x 1/2" SS flathead screws.
I will not even detail the 6" plates. Suffice to say that the original holes were too damn big for the new plates. I built up the holes with epoxy and cabosil, then trimmed to fit. My 2 hour project ended up taking two days. There, now that I've vented I feel much better.
