Jump to content

Welcome to TheMalibuCrew!

As a guest, you are welcome to poke around and view the majority of the content that we have to offer, but in order to post, search, contact members, and get full use out of the website you will need to Register for an Account. It's free and it's easy, so don't hesitate to join the TheMalibuCrew Family today!

Small Crack in (power) Wedge, what can I do?


Recommended Posts

Our boating season is done up here and as I was going through the boat and doing season end maintenance, I noticed a small crack on one of the arms of the power wedge.  

I looked (although pretty briefly) and the only replacement wedge I could find on Bakes was a floating wedge.  Does anyone know where to look for one at? 

...OR...Could I take it to a welder that knows what he is doing and just have him fix it?  It's up near the top (if the wedge was deployed/down) so def don't have to worry about the way it looks up there.

 

Thanks, 

Phil

Link to comment

Phil,

I just took my wedge to a skilled stainless steel welder to have him widen the brackets where the actuators attach. This was done  so that I could fit a DIY 3” PVC surf pipe between the actuators. So, I would just take it to a stainless steel welder and have it welded😁  It will be way cheaper!

Lonnie

Link to comment
20 hours ago, justgary said:

I would certainly check with a good welder to see what they think.  Please post a decent photo of the damage.

Here's a picture. Just a small crack by where the actuators bolt on.

20210920_154716.jpg

Link to comment
3 hours ago, pshirek said:

Here's a picture. Just a small crack by where the actuators bolt on.

20210920_154716.jpg

Agree with finding a skilled tig welder to take care of that. Cleaning that up weld/fill and should be able to blend it back so it hides the repair.

what concerns me is it appears the crack extends away from the weld joint through the middle of the arm.

Hopefully the crack/ rust isn’t too deep. To avoid contamination in the weld , it will need to grind that section out.

 

Link to comment
  • 2 months later...

In my experience… having it welded is very temporary. The left side cracked just like this one.  Had it welded. Looked great. 
then 20 hours later the other side snapped completely.  Order a new wedge from dealer. $1500ish. 
 

(will sell the bent wedge if anyone wants it)

 

 

7E25C978-3DC7-4F2E-85CE-3A016B43618F.jpeg

3BD561D6-8B4F-48CA-9E18-CD50DD6A389D.jpeg

1630AD6C-AD5D-4FDC-8947-8A140425C1A5.jpeg

Edited by SlayerWilson
Added pictures
Link to comment
On 11/24/2021 at 11:50 PM, SlayerWilson said:

In my experience… having it welded is very temporary. The left side cracked just like this one.  Had it welded. Looked great. 
then 20 hours later the other side snapped completely.  Order a new wedge from dealer. $1500ish. 
 

(will sell the bent wedge if anyone wants it)

 

 

7E25C978-3DC7-4F2E-85CE-3A016B43618F.jpeg

3BD561D6-8B4F-48CA-9E18-CD50DD6A389D.jpeg

1630AD6C-AD5D-4FDC-8947-8A140425C1A5.jpeg

I would be pissed if the welded section looked like that. The area where the welder flap disked the arm did it with a used disk with ferrous metal fragments and contaminated the stainless. Also may have overheated the material 

this may be Monday morning quarterbacking but..

if going through the trouble of having 1 side welded, I would have recommended welding both sides and using more filler into the weld to build up a stronger joint 

 

 

Edited by Stevo
Link to comment
On 11/26/2021 at 11:02 AM, Stevo said:

I would be pissed if the welded section looked like that. The area where the welder flap disked the arm did it with a used disk with ferrous metal fragments and contaminated the stainless. Also may have overheated the material 

this may be Monday morning quarterbacking but..

if going through the trouble of having 1 side welded, I would have recommended welding both sides and using more filler into the weld to build up a stronger joint 

 

 

I am def not a welder. I sell money. I understand what you mean on adding more material. It still has to pivot on the mounting hole. It held up though!  (Not that I really needed a bent wedge.)    I bought a new one to be done with it. 

 

  • Like 1
Link to comment

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...