The Inaccessible Nut

I have long arms, but sometimes they aren't long enough.

While installing a trolling motor mount to my kayak (Really? You're supposed to paddle them?) I realized that I could reach the head of the nut with a ratchet in my right hand and box wrench in my left, held under the deck, but my arm wasn't long enough to start the nut on the threads.

Step 1: Attempt #1

My first attempt at getting the nut started was to wrap a piece of blue masking tape around the sides and bottom of the box wrench. Ideally, the nut would sit in the wrench, the tape would keep it from falling out, and I could start it with the ratchet.

It should have worked. Unfortunately, I couldn't keep the washer balanced on the nut long enough to get it threaded. I tried taping the whole works together, but I kept either knocking the washer out of line with the nut or pushing the nut hard enough to make the tape come loose.

Comments

[l8nite]

very interesting solution and I didnt realize sg stuck that quickly either

[rimar2000]

Superglue (cyanoacrylate) sticks almost instantaneously when:

• both surfaces match exactly and they aren't porous.
• y/o they have a little humidity.

[RangerJ]

Thanks - I didn't know why, but I gathered it might involve the fact that both surfaces were very smooth.

[spiderham]

I usually hold the nut with a pair of channel lock pliers and "glue" the washer to the pliers with a bit of anti-seize. For an installation like yours I would mount a stainless steel plate on the inside of the kayak with holes pre-drilled and tapped or with nuts welded to the underside of the plate to help spread the load of the motor.

[scole jr.]

May never use this, but it was interesting read and always nice to have the info in my back pocket. Thanks for sharing.