I have a 2001 Bavaria with teak toe rails and have experienced leaking stanchions. Not only were the stanchions leaking but each stanchion was not very secure and moved athawtships a lot.
To fix the problem i purchased a number of cast stainless steel stanchion bases at a cost of $A50 each (see photo.)
Each stanchion fitted neatly into the new bases. I then drilled and through bolted the three pieces together with a 5/16th bolt and dome nut.(see photos detailing exploded view and completed re-engineering)
After cleaning away all residual material from the toe rail, existing hole and spigot i used "Sikaflex 291 Black" to bog up the hole and liberally coated the through deck spigot and the underside of the new stanchion base, inserted the spigot and bolted the re-engineered stanchions in place using the same size washers that came off during the dismantling stage.
The whole re-engineered stanchions with the new bases were not over tightened in the first instance but left for 24 hours to cure and then tightened.
It is advisable to mask up around the new bases to facilitate cleaning away the cured Sikaflex.
The width of the cast ss base spreads the load on the existing toe rail with the base area providing additional water proofing and secure fixing ie minimal athawtships movement.
Note, i did not screw the new stanchion base into the teak as the re-engineered stanchions were very solid and did not have any movement once tightened after the initial curing of the Sikaflex. I considered additional screw holes in the teak may lead to water ingress issues in the future. The Sikaflex was left to cure after it oozed up and out from the screw holes, left to dry, then trimmed off level with the top of the new stanchion base.
The final outcome is a very secure, water tight, through deck re-attachment of the existing stanchions. Since the completion of the works in September of this year i have sailed 1,200 ocean nmls and experienced a number of rain events with no leaks.
I am very happy with the outcome.
