Pompanette Helm Chair Repairs...

[bartoma]

Mine's almost 20 year old, and it needs some work...

The insert nuts that hold the rear mounting screws (which secure the armrest assembly and the seat to the bracket) have broken out of the plastic seat base... I am thinking I'll grind the plastic smooth, epoxy in a plywood insert, and install the inserts into the plywood... Make sense?

Also, the pop pins that allow the vertical ladder to hold a position (up,.down) have lost some strength in the spring, so the helm chair back is always at the lowest setting...

Any idea where I can get a new pair of screw-in pop pins?

 

[bartoma]

Repair complete, FWIW... Ground smooth, used 1/2" starboard (1" x 3"), inserted a 1/4" tee nut, and epoxied into the seat base... Used JB Weld (tan) instead of MarineTex... Seems pretty solid - we'll see if it holds up...

Pompanette indicated that they can send me a new set of pop pins... So looks like I'll get some more life out of this chair after all...

 

[Fishtales]

That was fast. Post some pics when you can. Would be interested as this will likely be needed by many at some point.

 

[bartoma]

Corona Virus makes things at home go faster...

 

[Bayhouse]

Would love to see some pics of what you did. The bolts that hold the arm rests on my 330 Pompanette seat both broke. this week and I need to overhaul the whole thing.

 

[bartoma]

Going out in the morning to do boat related projects... If I get a chance, I'll disassemble and document.... It seems like it's worked out well...

 

[Bayhouse]

Any luck with the pics?

 

[bartoma]

LOL - I had intended to get out to the boat today, but I had too much to do around the house... If the wx is good this week, I may play hooky one day and get out there... I'll be sure to get some posted...

 

[Bayhouse]

Thanks. Got mine apart today and realized the problem looks to be the same as yours, the two plastic insert nuts (circled in Red) for the armrest are broken off so there's no way to secure the slide, armrest bracket and the seat. Is this what you repaired?

Your repair description now makes sense and I have a plan of action. I wonder how the JB will hold the plastic and Starboard together....

Did you use a pronged T-Nut or the round base?

 

[bartoma]

YES! Absolutely... So, what I did was use a dremel tool to grind the pockets where these nuts were embedded smooth... I cut a piece of 1/2" x 1" starboard to length from just behind the drain hole to the back of the pocket (i.e., top of your picture)... To make this piece sit correctly, I cut a small piece to fit under the block at the top (this small piece was maybe 1/3" tall and angled to meet the block flush...

I epoxied the small wedge in the top of the pocket, then I used a small screw to secure the block... I then assembled the slider on the seat to mark the location to drill a hole in the block... After taking the slider off, I removed the block, drilled the hole, and inserted a 1/4" tee nut (pronged) into the block on the side facing the seat (i.e., the side facing skyward)... I then smeared epoxy in the cavity and reattached the block with the screw... I generously applied epoxy on all sides of block, and after it cured, I used the dremel tool to grind down the block to fit the profile of the channel where the armrest passes through...

With all that done, it was a simple matter of lubricating and reassembling... I used tan JB weld, which was advertised to have a tensile strength of close to 5000 pounds; that said, I was careful not to over-tighten the rear bolts - just enough to make it solid and secure...

So far, this combination of starboard, epoxy, and a tee-nut seems to solve the problem of the sheared-off "plastic bold receivers"...

Hope that's helpful... I'll post pics as soon as I can...

 

[Bayhouse]

YES! Absolutely... So, what I did was use a dremel tool to grind the pockets where these nuts were embedded smooth... I cut a piece of 1/2" x 1" starboard to length from just behind the drain hole to the back of the pocket (i.e., top of your picture)... To make this piece sit correctly, I cut a small piece to fit under the block at the top (this small piece was maybe 1/3" tall and angled to meet the block flush...

THIS is really helpful, I was looking at that un-level area yesterday wondering what to do there, this makes perfect sense.

I epoxied the small wedge in the top of the pocket, then I used a small screw to secure the block... I then assembled the slider on the seat to mark the location to drill a hole in the block... After taking the slider off, I removed the block, drilled the hole, and inserted a 1/4" tee nut (pronged) into the block on the side facing the seat (i.e., the side facing skyward)... I then smeared epoxy in the cavity and reattached the block with the screw... I generously applied epoxy on all sides of block, and after it cured, I used the dremel tool to grind down the block to fit the profile of the channel where the armrest passes through...

With all that done, it was a simple matter of lubricating and reassembling... I used tan JB weld, which was advertised to have a tensile strength of close to 5000 pounds; that said, I was careful not to over-tighten the rear bolts - just enough to make it solid and secure...

So far, this combination of starboard, epoxy, and a tee-nut seems to solve the problem of the sheared-off "plastic bold receivers"...

Hope that's helpful... I'll post pics as soon as I can...

Really appreciate the help, I'm off to the HW store for the T-nuts and bolts, have everything else I need.

 

[bartoma]

Great - look forward to hearing about your success...