[Tilly_Copano]

The hinge on the front of hatch of my Maverick broke. I found the replacement hinge from gemlux but how do I replace the screws that go into the deck? The hinge is bolted on the actual hatch but the screws that go into deck have no bolt, they seem to be screwed into the deck, I can't feel or see any type of nut. Can I just screw these into the decks core? I can't imagine that it will hold up. Any input?

 

[Tilly_Copano]

Pictures

 

[hunterbrown]

If it was done right from the factory and if there are no backing nuts on the deck side, then they should have potted the screws in epoxy in some way or used some sort of backing plate that was put in during the deck lamination. I know maverick used to and maybe still does put aluminum backing plates in the deck where the poling platform feet should go, they may have done something similar for the hinges though it would likely be a different material. The old maverick brochures can be found online and they have illustrations that show where those aluminum plates are for the platform feet.

If there isn't any kind of backing or epoxy in there from the factory then you could just overdrill the screw holes and fill them with thickened epoxy then come back and drill the holes for the screws in your epoxy plugs. You could also put the screws in the epoxy with wax on them before it cures but that would probably be pretty tough given the location. Maverick might be able to tell how they did it if you call.

 

[Capnredfish]

Have you removed one of the questionable screws? Machine thread or wood type? Might clue you in on what’s behind it. If it’s backing and a machine screw there is a good chance it won’t back out do to corrosion between stainless and aluminum backing.

 

[Tilly_Copano]

Tried to remove the screws of the 6, 1 came out, 2 the screws head broke off and the others stripped. Looks like I'm going to have to drill them out. They are machine screws so I guess there is a backing plate. I'm going to call maverick and see what they say to do.

If there is a backing plate could I just drill out the screws with a slightly bigger bit and then add the appropriate size screw?

 

[Clayton]

I just went through this on my HPX-S. I did not find a backing plate. I removed the hinges, drilled out the previous holes, filled the holes with Marine-Tex (used a random orbital sander without a pad to make sure the Marine-Tex completely filled the holes), did touch up sanding to make the mating surface flat, drilled and installed new hinges and screws.

Hope this helps

 

[permitchaser]

Can you get a nut on it

 

[Smackdaddy53]

Once you get them out and drilled out tap them and go back in with stainless screws coated with TefGel and they will never corrode and seize up if you need to get them out again. Older Mavericks have aluminum backing plates and that’s why your fasteners broke off.