Swim Platform Brackets

[SKYCHENEY]

I just removed my swim platform. It was the original Hatt fiberglass one with five bronze L-brackets. The reason I took it off was to try to come up with a way to support it better. The brackets were flexing quite a bit and at one point this summer it was bad enough that the ladder even started to pull loose at the top. Now that I have them off, I thought about gusseting them to strengthen them up. But, on second thought, I called Steve MacPherson in hopes of buying replacements. No luck there. He said that they were made as a set with each bracket having a different angle on it to account for the curvature of the hull. Now I'm thinking about making new ones out of stainless. Maybe I'll buy some stainless channel and weld 'em up out of that. Anyone else have any suggestions before I go out and buy 30' of 2"x3/4" channel stock?

 

[Genesis]

The ones on my platform were stainless, and triangular (that is, there was a brace from the outside corner to the bottom for rigidity)

Worked quite well. I nearly pulled the platform off the brackets backing down while fishing, but never threatened to damage the brackets.

 

[StratPlan61]

How about aluminum 'angle stock', maybe 3" with a connecting brace (45deg) from upright to extended arm? It is easy to work with, reasonably cheap to buy and readily available. If the platform were still mounted, replacing and marking the new braces one at a time (with the other originals still in place) might be fairly easy. Then you could cut them and take them to professional welder for individual assembly. Fairing out rough edges and corners on a belt sander or grinder would complete them. No painting required? Just a thought.

 

[SKYCHENEY]

Sorry, I failed to mention that the originals do have a brace from the outside edge back to the bottom of the bracket, but they still flex too much. I thought about aluminum, but that seemed like it might flex too (if designed like the old brackets). However, the idea of channel came to me after I was already thinking stainless. Maybe aluminum channel would be okay. Thanks for the response.

 

[Nonchalant1]

My 53MY's teak swim platform has had additional stainless bracket support rods added sometime in the past. It's always been strong and I've had no problems. I believe they used the same round stainless stock and fittings made to fabricate deck railings. It just looks like stainless pipe, fittings and attachment brackets were made to run from the rear edge of the swim platform supports down to the hull. It's a simple fix. I can take pictures if you want. I don't know the differences between the teak and fiberglass support systems.

Doug Shuman

 

[double eagle]

I used stainless square tubing...
1 inch
and flat 1/4 x 2 inch strap
the new ones fit perfect
made my own new swim platform
36 inch no holes has been great for 11yrs now
double eagle

 

[SKYCHENEY]

I just installed the new brackets that my guys fabricated in our shop. I used 2"x1"x1/4" ss channel. They seem much heavier than the original bronze brackets and I think they should outlast me. Anyway, I have the original brackets sitting on my garage floor if anyone is interested in them. They look straight, but I think they allowed the platform to sag about 1" at the outer edge when I had them on the boat. You might be able to rework them or just shim up the platform to get it level. If no one wants them, I'll probably just take them to the local scrap yard.

 

[ThirdHatt]

Sky, I am interested in your old bracket set. I am in the process of adding a teak swim platform to my boat and I have no brackets to mount the new platform with. I was going to see about making some from scratch, but that may prove quite difficult. I'd rather use yours for templates to fab some new, stronger ones if possible, or even beef those up somehow. If I don't actually use them, I'd make a post offering them on this site for the next person. I can PM you my FedEx account number. What would you need for the brackets?

Thank You,
Byron

 

[luckydave215]

Aluminum and seawater

Don't even think about fabricating in-the-water brackets from aluminum. Even if you have them hard anodized (with a zinc dichromate seal or nickel acetate seal) they will last about 15 minutes. No matter how hard you try, you will scratch through the anodize somewhere, and all the galvanic action will be concentrated at that spot. Also, you will probably use ss fasteners in contact with the aluminum in an electrolyte (seawater) which is a big no-no. If you fabricate the parts from ss (use 316L ONLY) make sure the welds seal up all the crevices and interiors of tubing, otherwise you will get crevice corrosion. Hatteras used bronze for these parts in the first place because it's the best material for the job. Attached with like metal (bronze) fasteners, it's corrosion performance is quite good. Those guys at Hatteras weren't stupid.

I design and fabricate deep sea pressure cases daily from aluminum, and all parts get hard anodized, zinc dichromate seal, 5 step baked on epoxy paint, and zinc anodes. All (stainless or titanium) fasteners are galvanically isolated from the aluminum with plastic bushings. They are handled with white gloves and recieve NO scratches......a scratch only seen under microscope inspection means a scrap part. They last about 5 years under ideal conditions.

If you want to know more about this subject, google "marine corrosion"

 

[SKYCHENEY]

Byron,
Send me a PM with that FedEx number and I'll try to figure out how to box them up. I may have to do it with 2 or 3 boxes due to the size and weight. It may take a week or so to figure that out. I'll keep in touch. As far as price, I was just going to scrap them, so I doubt they are worth much.

LuckyDave,

I dismissed the aluminum idea as well, but boy that would have been alot cheaper than the stainless. I've got about $900 just into the materials and that was with my discount as we buy a fair amount of steel. I had my shop foreman weld these up and he is the best welder/fabricator I have ever seen. He has worked for us for over 40yrs and the brackets look excellent. I hope they hold up. I changed all mounting hardware to stainless as well and I plan to put a good coat of bottom paint on them before she goes back in the water. The other good thing for me is that I am in the Great Lakes, so galvanic action is greatly reduced. Thanks for the input.

 

[mike]

All SS including 316L needs fresh O2 on a frequent basis to ensure it maintains the correct surface oxide protection to prevent corrossion. Paint may not be a good way to go.

 

[SKYCHENEY]

RE: Painting the SS brackets: I could leave them bare and see how much crud builds up on them this season. If it's not bad, I'll just clean them up and let them go another season, otherwise I could add a coat of paint if they clean up really hard. Maybe I'll try that. Thanks

It got me thinking, though. What about people that coat their SS shafts? Are they going to have corrosion problems too?

 

[34Hatt]

Don't even think about fabricating in-the-water brackets from aluminum. Even if you have them hard anodized (with a zinc dichromate seal or nickel acetate seal) they will last about 15 minutes.

I have a friend who did his platform with Aluinum about 13 years ago I did not think it was a great Idea. When I said something he looked at me and said hell they make Aluminum boats you know!!!!!! well like I said its been at least 13 years and they are still fine I guess he was right

Oh yeah last year I built a platform for mine made them out of 316 Stainless tubing

 

[67hat34c]

Dan, what kind of platform did you make? If glass do you have a mold?

 

[DickB]

For those of you who built new swim steps, did you also make it deeper? And if so, could you use the existing brackets?

I notice on all the hatts I've seen, that the swim steps are unusually narrow. Could never figure out who, other than support issues. Maybe Hargrave thought about the cosmetic issues. Don't know. But it sure would be nice to extend it a couple feet.
Dick

 

[34Hatt]

67hat34c Dan, what kind of platform did you make? If glass do you have a mold?

Yes I do this is It!

 

[67hat34c]

you are the man, i may hit you up over the summer for this mold.

the paint job is getting out of hand, turns out that Brevard county hit yards with such restrictions on spray painting that all of them got out of the business. all of them took down their paint booths.

I found a guy in Sebastian and another in Daytona, no numbers yet.

 

[REBrueckner]

Despite some posts here, don't unnecessarily mix metals underwater..it's a losing proposition. Use of aluminum brackets is just asking for trouble on a Hatteras with stainless and bronze metals underwater. Use quality SS if you can get it.

Brackets will crud up with marine growth..more than you can imagine. My SS brackets are bottom painted and stay clean for one season. The second season in the NE mussels grow five or six inches thick all around until I knock them off..They are mostly out of the water when cruising so I don't mind. The annoying place mussels also grow is under the trim tabs..between the tabs and the hull...they are tough to get out and also difficult to clean and paint when hauled.

 

[SKYCHENEY]

I had zebra mussels up here in Mich on my trim tabs. I unscrewed the bottom of the cylinders to allow the tabs to go down further. Then I could get in there and clean it up and get a good coat of VC17 on them.

 

[Maynard Rupp]

Same way I handle the stupid zebra mussels Sky. I am worried though as our traditional teak swim platform has square aluminum tubing for supports. I bottom paint them with VC-17 annually, but if I relocate the boat to Miami, are they gonna disintegrate?