June 22nd - Ladder Repair on Homer

The stainless steel boat bracket I ordered to repair Homer's ladder is made for securing rails on the decks of boats. I used one in another location on the ladder a couple of years ago and it has worked great. The bracket arrived today so I got to work. I drilled out the rivets that held the old bracket to the back fiberglass wall. Here are pictures of the bracket. The aluminum part was riveted to the wall. The rusty metal part is what is left of a round bolt bracket that went inside the aluminum tube that supports the ladder. The system is not very beefy but it lasted 27 years.

Upon drilling out the rivets I found there was nothing behind the fiberglass to screw into. Those two rivets took all the pressure of climbing up and down the ladder. Luckily one doesn't do it a lot.

In thinking about various kinds of anchors for the screws for the new bracket I finally decided that the only kind that would work was toggle bolts. They require a much bigger hole but grab well from the back side and spread the pressure well. I went to Buchheit's and bought two stainless steel screws and two toggle bolts. The toggle bolts come with bolts that thread through them. I couldn't find any stainless steel bolts that size so I bought stainless steel screws and slowly re-threaded them through the toggle bolts. I had to drill the holes in the wall much larger to accommodate the toggle bolts but the holes were easily covered by the new bracket. The fiberglass was thicker than I thought so the first screws I bought weren't long enough. I went back and bought longer ones. I also put putty tape behind the bracket to keep any water from getting into the mounting holes. Here are pictures of the finished project showing the old bracket on the left and the new bracket on the right.

I think it came out well. The new bracket connection is quite strong. This repair will long outlast me for sure.  I will now feel safer climbing up on the roof for inspections, etc.
To address the battery charging issues I ordered a new converter/charger. It should arrive in about a week. When it does I will install it and the new batteries. Homer should be ready to roll once again.