Rutgerson Rope Clutches

[Querencia]

I am trying to remove my Rutgerson Rope Clutches on My 2004 Bavaria 36 and realize that they are threaded thru aluminum or stainless plates into the cabin top, I have tried PB Blaster,WD 40 and a Impact Drill to try to loosen the bolts,short of taking a sawzall to them and destroying the bases ,has anyone ever tackled this job sucessfully, I want to change them to Garhauer Brand and increase then to 5 on each side and take the cam cleats off of the traveler and lead the lines directly into the clutches, I'm sorry if this has been dealt with before,I am a new B36 owner     Ed

[dawntreader]

The problem lies with the oxidization of the aluminium plate where it contacts with the threaded stainless steel screw. You should use good quality tools to avoid damage to the screw heads. If you can't ease them you may have to drill them out. Be careful with the removed Rutgersen parts - they have good second-hand value on Ebay 

[Konan the Bavarian]

I recently removed the rutgerson triple clutches on my 2006 B37. I used a Makita 18V impact wrench with impact tool bits, when all other methods failed. the right tools really did make the job easy. For end results, please refer to my recent post in Modifications & Equipment.

[IslandAlchemy]

When I took one of my banks off, the plate dropped so that I couldn't screw it back down.  It required cutting-out the iner lining to access the plate (which I removed and replaced with a SS plate).

[tiger79]

Bit of thread drift here, but my Cruiser 37 is less than a year old.  Does anyone think it would be worthwhile removing the fixing screws for clutches, etc, and refitting them using Duralac?  Or is it unlikely that I'd need to replace the clutches, etc, in my ownership?

[Symphony]

Thinking of doing that with my new boat when it arrives. When I fitted a new Lofrans windlass to the existing boat I did it with all the fastenings as the main reason for the replacement (rather than repair) was because of the extensive corrosion in the housing around the mounting studs and all the fastenings were seized solid so could not dismantle it without drilling them all out.

[Nigel]

When I took one of my banks off, the plate dropped so that I couldn't screw it back down...

I did that the first time, but managed to move it back into place with a sail maker's needle. I now make sure there is always one screw fitted.

[Konan the Bavarian]

To help minimise the corrosion between the Stainless steel bolts & the aluminium, I used a lanolin based paste (Lanotec) to isolate the two dissimilar metals. You can also use this paste as a cutting paste if you need to re-tap the threads.

[BillGiles]

As someone mentioned about taking bolts out, I recently serviced the winches on our 12 year old B36. The bolts were real difficult to remove so I guess that it pays to move them when the boat is newer. One bolt was near impossible to move but I did shift it in the end. I am replacing them with Allen keyed bolts as I do not trust the cross head ones not to get damaged.