All Davey and Co. bollard cleats are produced in polished bronze and can be chrome plated to order. Many can also be produced in galvanised iron in batch quantities.
Arthur Beale Tips
Fastening Deck Fittings
When fastening fittings such as cleats, fairleads or pad eyes to your deck it is important the fitting is both very secure and also doesn’t cause any leaks.
We recommend the following method.
Place the fitting in the correct place being careful to ensure any bolts wont clash with beams or fittings on the underside of the deck. It is normally necessary to spread the load from cleats and pad eyes by adding a backing plate below the deck. Use a good quality marine ply which is sufficiently thick to avoid flexing. Chamfer all the edges of the backing plate then sand with 120 grit abrasive paper and give it two coats of primer. Backing plates used under glass fibre decks should have all the corners well rounded and the edges tapered to avoid raising stress points. Mark the deck where the holes are needed.
It is normally best to use bolts or machine screws with nuts and washers to fasten fittings that will take a load.
The fastenings should match the material used to make the fitting.
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If your fitting is gunmetal use silicon bronze or stainless-steel fastenings. Do not use brass.
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If your fitting is galvanised iron, use galvanised iron or stainless-steel fastenings. Do not use silicon bronze
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If your fitting is brass, use brass or silicon bronze. Do not use stainless steel.
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If your fitting is stainless steel, use stainless steel fastenings.
You may need someone help to hold the backing plate firmly in place while you drill through the deck and the plate. Use the same size drill as the fastening’s shank.
Insert the fastenings through the fitting and deck. With the fitting positioned, mask off the area around the fitting and the backing plate with a good quality masking tape. The yellow masking tape is perfect for this. Now remove the fitting and backing plate and apply a thick layer of Sikaflex 291 or Sikaflex 591 to the areas inside the masking tape. Gently place the fitting and backing plate on the mastic. Wrap the fastenings with a twist of caulking cotton and insert them gently through the fitting and the deck with its backing plate. Wrap more caulking cotton to the thread under the deck and slide on a washer, then the nut. Do not tighten up the nut. Gently push the fitting and backing plate into the mastic so it oozes out all around but do not push so hard that it all oozes out! The idea is to leave a flexible gasket under the fitting to make a proper seal.
If you like all the slots in your fastenings to line up now is the time to gently turn them to your preferred angle.
The following day, remove the nuts, apply a little lanolin to the threads, then put the nuts back on and tighten up firmly.
With a sharp knife carefully scribe around the excess mastic around the fitting and remove. Paint the backing plate to match the rest of the deckhead.
If you can’t gain access to the underside of the deck and you have sufficient thickness of timber, then woodscrews may be used. Ensure you drill the correct pilot hole sizes for the chosen screw. We recommend either dipping the screw in wet varnish or applying lanolin to the thread before driving it almost home. Allow the mastic to set before finally tightening. You now have the debate whether you align the slot nicely and jeopardise getting the exact torque or accept the squiffy slots and have the correct torque. That’s a long debate.
For light stainless-steel fittings with restricted depth of timber we would advise that you use self-tapping screws which will provide a superior grip on the timber.
Note:
If your deck is sandwich construction glass fibre, care needs to be taken because the flexing may separate the outer and inner skins from the core. You will need to cut away the inner skin, remove the core material and re-laminate the area. Allow enough room for a strong backing plate with rounded and tapered edges. Then proceed as per a solid timber deck.
An alternative is to insert timber spacers between the two skins to ensure they can’t compress. It is really crucial the flexible mastic completely seals the area or water will penetrate the core material.
Our Arthur Beale tips are just our opinions. Lots of people have different methods. If you think you can contribute to our tips please drop an email to tips@arthurbeale.co.uk
