Today my silicon bronze carriage bolts arrived! Ordered last week, these will be the fasteners of the frames to the motor stringer, and the stem to the keel. Here’s what $265.76 (plus $16.36 shipping) gets you:
Here’s what’s in the neat packets above:
5/16″ bolts and hardware:
- 4 – 5/16″ x 6″ carriage bolts – attaching the keel to the stem (in front of Frame 6)
- 4 – 5/16″ x 4″ carriage bolts – transom uprights to motor stringer (two per side x two sides)
- 25 5/16″ hex nuts for above (one 25ct bag)
- 25 5/16″ flat washers for above (one 25 ct bag)
1/4″ bolts and hardware:
- 50 – 1/4″ x 3-1/2″ carriage bolts – blocking through stringer (two 25-ct boxes)
- 10 – 1/4″ x 4″ carriage bolts – blocking through thicker frames
- 75 1/4″ hex nuts for above (three 25ct bags)
- 75 1/4″ flat washers for above (three 25ct bags)
I purchased a bit of overage on washers and nuts, as it was much cheaper in “bulk” bags and I’m more likely to drop and lose a washer or nut versus losing a bolt.
Some of the framing I’ve done have had 1/2″ plywood floor gussets applied to the opposite side of the mahogany floor timbers as reinforcements. The longer 1/4″ carriage bolts are for those frames.
While I did order overage, I’m confident that this may be the last time (at least until after the flip) that I’ll need to source silicon bronze carriage bolts.
These were purchased from Bolt Depot (www.boltdepot.com), which had everything available and were less expensive than elsewhere, although I did have to jump through some mental hurdles as nuts and washers were sold separately. On the Glen-L site, they only sell certain sizes, but are helpful in that it’s a bolt+nut+washer combo for one price.