Tips for replacing a deck fill?

[MarkA]

Our weekend trip to Two Harbors at Catalina Island was scrubbed by -- get this -- a frozen gas cap!

That's right, the brass deck fill for our diesal tank Would. Not. Open. It was so tight it bent the spanner wrench before stripping out the holes in the cap. The slot also stripped out. I just could not open the damned thing. (It hasn't been opened since last November; I rarely motor, and the little Perkins get's ridiculous gas mileage!)

So, I'm going to replace the deck plate assembly this week. Any tips on how to remove it without gouging the deck? What should I bed the new plate in? Any other tips? I've never done this before.

 

[Glyn Judson]

Mark, Before tossing your bronze (not brass) deck fill assembly and replacing it, read the following from the Tips section of our Ericson 31 web site and I'll bet you can get that cap off. http://www.ericson31.com. If you have to remove the entire fitting, first take the three deck screws off then remove or loosen and slide the hose clamp down from below deck and push the entire assembly up, hose and bronze fitting still intact. It's at this point that you can more easily separate the fill from the hose waaay more easily. But before even doing that, read on. When I bought our E31, I couldn’t get the holding tank deck fill open, it was crudded in place. The cap is the type with a curved slot in the center just like the ones you see on the covers for camera batteries. I used and still use a large washer to open it (West Marine sq. # 593857). The inside diameter is 3/4” and can accept the pump handle from a Whale Gusher manual bilge pump or even a length of scrap pipe alying around. The outside diameter of the washer is 1 3/4”. For hard to remove caps, place the handle in the hole of the washer and insert the washer into the slot of the cap. While kneeling over the cap, press your full upper body weight over the two handles that you have created and slowly unscrew the cap. This idea was from a West Marine store manager in Marina del Rey CA. I used this same method on hull #66 that had a frozen fill also but in that case I took the entire fitting home and heated it with my propane torch to help get it open. Before I did that, I fashioned a crude wooden clamp to hold the barbed end of the deck fill base by tracing the diameter of the barb onto a 6” long piece of 2X4 wood. I roughly drilled out the center with a 1/4” drill bit deliberately making the hole tight and crude. I cut the 2X4 longitudinally splitting the hole in half and clamped the barb in the wood jig into my bench vise. I applied heat to the cap and unscrewed it in the above manner. Be sure to replace the O-ring and grease the threads to avoid difficult removal in the future. If the slot on your cap is flat at the bottom and not curved like mine, measure the length of the slot and cut the appropriate amount off the wahser so it will fit well. With enough body pressure on it and possibly some torch heat, it will unscrew. I'd hate to see you toss a fine bronze fitting out when such a simple fix can reatore it to perfect use. Go for it, Glyn Judson, E31 hull #55, Marina del Rey, CA

 

[MarkA]

Thanks, Glyn. I think the washer trick will work. 1-3/4 was too small in diameter, so I picked up a 1" x 2-1/2" that I think will work. I'm looking for a 1" hunk of pipe and I'll head back down to the boat.

Once I get the cap off, I'll drill out the stripped holes to match the larger end of my spanner wrench, get a new o-ring and grease those threads!

But, I'm still concerned about the seal between the deckplate and my deck. I want to lift it and rebed it. What should I use?

 

[Glyn Judson]

Bedding the deck fill.

Mark, Use the product of your choice. There's nothing plastic there so you could use a polysulfide like Boat Life or equal and I'm sure you'd be just fine and get a nice seal. Good luck, Glyn Judson, E31 hull #55, Marina del Rey, CA

 

[MarkA]

Damnit!

Big-ass washer (2.5" (3.5 would be better)) and 1" steel pipe ain't turnin' the bronze. It just ain't turning!

Time to remove the deckplate assembly. One screw backs out, and two just turn in place. Grrrr....

Any tips? Heading back to the dock in the morning.

By the way: Thanks for the tips!

 

[Frank Langer]

I was able to undo our frozen deck cap by clamping a "universal" opening tool (about $5.00 at most chandleries) into my vice grips and then sliding a pipe over the vice grip to get more leverage. The hardest part was keeping the opening tool flat in the deck fill slit while applying pressure. But a gradual, careful approach did the trick.
As for the screws turning, can you slide a screwdriver or something under the flange of the fitting and apply upward pressure while turning the screws out?
Good luck!
Frank.

 

[Glyn Judson]

Removing the deck fill.

Mark, Frank has the right idea in using a screwdriver against the threads of the screws. It might also might work to simply use the screwdriver as a pry bar given that the screws aren't holding anyway. Another possibility is that bronze wood screws too big for the pilot holes were turned into the fiberglass when it was installed at the factory and a portion of the screws snapped off leaving the tip buried in the hole. In either event, the simplest work around would be to fill those old screw holes with epoxy or bedding and when replacing the fitting, rotate it in the center hole slightly and fit new screws into new well bedded pilot holes. Good luck, you CAN do it, Glyn Judson, E31 hull #545, Marina del Rey, CA