How do I remove a broken, headless, rusty screw from my deck??

[ClaVaPa1]

Hi All,

It had been around a month after I had noticed a bit of rust coming out of one of the screws of my control lines cleat on the deck...
So yesterday I finally had a day where I was not in a rush and could take my toolkit to the club and attempt to replace it.

I go there with my screwdriver and... SNAP! The head of the screw comes clean off, leaving me with a sorry stump coming out of my deck...

I guess my bad for not checking it thoruoghly, but it must've started rusting from the inside and when I first noticed it, it was already too late...

So... suggestions on what's the best approach to remove it?

I thought of:

1) Looking for a screw removerand drilling it into the screw, however I saw that in order to do this, you have to take a spike and wack it with a hammer, which if done badly, it could punch a hole into the deck or damage the screw thread

2) Ask a welder if he can bond a nut on top of the screw and then screw it off

3) drill directly through the screw and put a larger one / pour some epoxy in and replace the screw...

I am really clueless... in 10 years of sailing this boat, I always kept lots of care to my gear and it's the first time that something like this has happened to me... if you got any suggestions / past experience to share, I am really looking forward to hear!

Cheers,

Claudio.

 

[Horizon]

It looks like there might be just enough of the screw sticking up to get some pliers/monkey grips onto it and try to unscrew it that way.

Or failing that, the easiest solution might be to cut it off flush with the deck, fill in the other hole and reposition the cleat slightly - see the class rules for the measurement diagram as to where the cleat can be positioned.

However, others might have some alternative ideas as to how to remove the screw.

 

[joe c]

good vice grips. looks like you have some sticking out. work it back and forth a tiny bit until its loose.if it breaks drill around it with the smallest drill bit you have. you can always epoxy in a wood dowel then drill and screw your new cleat in there. and use stianless.

 

[ClaVaPa1]

good vice grips. looks like you have some sticking out. work it back and forth a tiny bit until its loose.if it breaks drill around it with the smallest drill bit you have. you can always epoxy in a wood dowel then drill and screw your new cleat in there. and use stianless.

It looks like there might be just enough of the screw sticking up to get some pliers/monkey grips onto it and try to unscrew it that way.

Or failing that, the easiest solution might be to cut it off flush with the deck, fill in the other hole and reposition the cleat slightly - see the class rules for the measurement diagram as to where the cleat can be positioned.

However, others might have some alternative ideas as to how to remove the screw.

DONE! Some good mole grips did the job!

 

[Horizon]

DONE! Some good mole grips did the job!

Excellent! I am glad you had a good result without too much extra work needed.

 

[suicideeddie]

if it was broken off inside the deck you could of used a hollow core drill bit to extract the old bolt and then refill the hole with resin

 

[Phillipbennett]

Had a similar issue the other week but had to push the screw in. Anyone had any luck getting a screw/loose bits out of a bung hole? Really dont want to make an inspection port..

 

[HelgeS]

Heat it with soldering iron, then use wisegrip. Next: drill a small hole on the side of it, 2mm bores, knock it out sideways. Open up hole to 6mm, and insert ski binding inserts. They are either plastic or brass.

 

[kimbodious]

Dremel and a steady hand but don’t persist so long that the metal gets really hot.