I ordered a FAE through the group buy last year. Had it installed by my dealer this spring. Took the boat out this weekend and noticed it was loose. The 2 screws that hold it in had sheared off at the top and I can’t tell if they did the same on the bottom or pulled right out. The support arm was what was keeping it on. I was going to get some higher quality SS bolts, washers and nulock nuts and reinstall. Any idea how long they need to be? Any other advice to prevent this from happening again?
-
I through-bolted mine. My transom was 1 3/4” thick. I want to say I used a 3” bolt. There is a higher grade of stainless bolt, but I can’t remember what they call them. I rarely use stainless, because they aren’t as strong as a grade 5 or 8 bolt, but obviously you’ll have to fit that application. I was under the impression that the marine sealant was actually the strength on the FAE, I used a ton of 5200 on my install.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro -
I know there are a couple of install options, but I took that black exhaust outlet off on mine.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk ProComment
-
Your dealer did not install it per manufacturers instructions. Wether you get the through hull style or the one that attaches to the plastic exhaust port like yours, the guys at FAE have pretty specific instructions to use a VERY liberal amount of marine sealant. The sealant is what ultimately hold everything together.Comment
-
In addition the installer is supposed to send FAE pictures of the install. The above photos that you attached would likely void your FAE warranty.Comment
-
I don't want to throw stones in my glass house but it sure looks like the installer gave it the "two out of four screws works from my back porch".Originally posted by Bowzer View Post
Run a #12 into the bottom two holes. If they bite when they bottom out then you know you never had any in there to begin withComment
-
Curious what year boat this is?Nick
Dayton, OhioComment
-
Dont see a spec of 5200, as FAE calls for. Also, do you know if your kit came with the thru-bolts or the self-taping? I guess you can look at the inside of the exhaust flange and see of there are the ends of bolts and the washers and nuts. Thru-bolt is the way to go. with a good bead of 3m 5200.Mikes Liquid Audio: Knowledge Experience Customer Service you can trust-KICKER WetSounds ACME props FlyHigh Custom Ballast Clarion LiquidLumens LEDs Roswell Wave Deflector And MoreComment
-
So my FAE came with the flappers with a cork backing. The instructions were clear that you only needed sealant in the screw holes themselves not on the cork backing, and they were screws not through bolts. I validated this with FAE when I submitted my warranty validation. Mine was a dual exhaust output though, not a single
I agree this looks like they only use two screws not all 4. The exhaust is going to have a lot of upward force on it in the water, so not having the lower two screws would be a huge issue IMHO.Comment
-
I have the same black exhaust outlet and I could only get clearance on 1 bolt of the 4 bolts, so I have 1 bolt and 3 screws. Larry from FAE swears you don’t need bolts, you just need to use 5200 like uswalker showed. I put a crap ton of 5200 on mine and it held up all summer just fine. Larry said any hardware will eventually break snd that’s why he recommends 5200
Note that Zackdogg doesn’t have the black plastic exhaust outlet, which is why he was successful in using bolts.
Black exhaust outlet on a R23……bolts ain’t happening unless you’re willing to drimell off the outer walls of the exhaust outlet so you can fit a socket on the outside and use lock washers and nut on inside holding the nut with pliers. I wouldn’t use nylon lock nuts as it’s a pita. Wasn’t room for socket on the inside of boat because of the rubber exhaust hose and only 1 bolt had adequate space for a wrench.
Sent from my iPhone using TapatalkLast edited by Bamer; 09-21-2021, 06:14 AM.Comment
-
I asked Larry to include bolts in my ship and politely declined….I doubt the OP got bolts from FAEOriginally posted by chpthril View Post
Sent from my iPhone using TapatalkComment
-
Larry has a point about bolts not being needed, but more context is needed. I have followed this issue for some time now, going back to a boat model and FAE style that was prone to coming off and I had one in the shop to install. Been 4 years and its still on.
The biggest issue has been heads popping off and not screws ripping out. So, when Larry says bolts are not needed, he's correct in this sense. A stainless bolt head can pop off just as a stainless self-tapping screw head can. They can actually be the same strength fastener regardless of their thread type.
Larry did not have a thru-bolt kit at the time in did the install. So in addition to the 5200, I upped the size of the screws, used washers to spread the load and use grade-8 rather then stainless. The grade-8 and washers were for the head strength and the larger screws offered better bite in the 12 year old original screw holes.
My understanding has been that the bolts have been a phillips head, not a hex, which makes them the same size as the self-tapping screws. And the bolt go from the outside in and the washers and nuts are on the inside.bolts ain’t happening unless you’re willing to drimell off the outer walls of the exhaust outlet so you can fit a socket on the outside
With that said, larry may have built a database of years and models that thru-bolting cant work or are not needed due to the FAE have an additional support fixture point.Mikes Liquid Audio: Knowledge Experience Customer Service you can trust-KICKER WetSounds ACME props FlyHigh Custom Ballast Clarion LiquidLumens LEDs Roswell Wave Deflector And MoreComment
-
Luckily I was doing my GSA at the same time, so I had grabbed some misc extra stainless hardware. The bolts FAE had sent me, weren’t much use, I think they were like #12 x 2 1/2”. I had grabbed some 1/4” x 3”, I think, so I switched to that mid-install. Not sure if my transom is exceptionally thick, but I did notify FAE that their provided bolts aren’t long enough for an, or at least my, RZX. It was a giant mess off 5200 to pull the FAE bolts, redrill to 1/4”, and swap them in, but between 1/4” through bolts, and 5200, mine is never going anywhere.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk ProComment
Comment