Making a hinge pin? / cooler corners

    I have a hatch on my boat that has a stainless steel hinge. The pin of this hinge is gone. The hinge is secured to the hatch in such a way that it doesn't make sense to take it off to replace it, or to work on it. Whatever I use to make a pin must be installed with the hinge in place on the boat. I have various SS rods and bolts of the correct diameter for a pin. The problem is making the ends so the pin stays in place. A bolt has a head on one side but what can I do to the other side? I can't bang on it with a hammer while the hinge is on the hatch. Bending both sides of a straight rod is also almost impossible. I thought of weakening each end of the rod with a small cut at the point of the bend to make bending easier. I'm just hoping there may be a product for this application, or some better way of DIY.

    Unless you are trying to match another hinge on the hatch for cosmetic reasons, you don't need a protruding head on the pin at all.


    Cut a picece of stainless rod to the same length as the hinge. Hammer one end of the pin just a LITTLE BIT so that it is not round. When you smash it in one direction, it will bulge out in the other direction. I know that you have a pair of dial calipers, so you can check the width of the hammered rod against the ID of the hinge. When you have the end of your hinge pin hammered so that the max width is a few thousandths of an inch larger than the hinge ID, just tap it into place. The interference (press) fit of the pin end inside the last hinge segment will hold it securely in place.


    Alternatively, if the sections of your hinge are long, and your pin is relatively small diameter, you can just put a slight bend in the very end of the pin, instead of hammering it.


    This has the advantage of being perfectly clean, with no bent protruding ends, or clips sticking out to catch on gear or toes. And it's easy enough to tap back out from the other direction with a nail if you don't quite like the fit.

    Edited once, last by Guest ().

    jb, I don't know what the original pin diameter was but a 1/8" rod that I have fits fairly well.


    Macdyver, where would I find SS C clips that are small enough.


    Jeff, flattening out one end by tapping it with a hammer is fine. But what about the other end? How can I hammer on it while it's in the hinge which is on the hatch?

    I used Tin Man's suggestion and the hinge works fine. The only drawback is that since the hinge is bent into shape to receive the pin, forcing the pin in opened up the hole a little. Otherwise the pin would've been jammed in there more securely. Simple and elegant solution as always Jeff :) Thanks for the help everyone.


    Quote from Dan

    Never mind Jeff, I figured out what you meant. The pin is stuck/not rotating in one part of the hinge, thus it doesn't need to protrude on either side. I'm going to try this.


    Dan, if you still need to form pin end. Cut the pin 1/8'' longer then the hinge body. Don't use heat treated
    SS, 302 would be fine. Swipe a large sized SS spoon from the galley, hold the pin on flat part of your vise.
    With the open side of the spoon up, peen or strike the top of the pin until you form a edge.
    A very small hammer with a polished face will work as well if you don't distort the pin ID too far from the edge. If you have a drill press you can form it by spinning, but try this first.
    Cheers, Don

    "Great mother ocean brought forth all life, it is my eternal home'' Don Berry from Blue Water Hunters.


    Spearfishing Store the freediving and spearfishing equipment specialists.

    Dan if you ever need I have calipers you can use..they might have helped you get an appropriately sized rod...this looks good enough though.



    when are you taking her out...wanna go tomorrow?

    i like to spear fish

    nice...you must be beyond excited at this point? How are you going to mount or secure cooler/s are you going to have it double as a seat/ table?


    have you taken a pic of the boat yet from the roof or on top of your van...I find that an above shot will help you make a mental plan, plus you can actually edit the pic to include mods and get an idea how things will look or work.

    i like to spear fish

    No time to be excited.. planning everything, but it's all decided on. The cooler fits exactly behind the seat. I bought a cushion for it but it turned out there wasn't enough space behind the seat back to open the cooler fully with the cushion on, so I returned it. No sitting on the cooler then, but no prob.


    I figured out an interesting way to secure the cooler to the floor. I didn't like at all the corners they sell to do this, they don't fit well, are too short, and also expensive at $40. So I made my own out of PVC pipe by heating and shaping it. The nice thing is that I molded them directly on the cooler so they fit perfect.





    I wish I had taken a pic of the dash for before and after.. I will post a pic soon of everything ready.

    The oven for the main bend and then a heat gun for more precise smaller bends, while shielding the rest of it with a piece of wood or aluminum. The reason you have to shield it is because it tends to go back to its original shape when heated again.

    The white caps are bordering on anal :) But when I saw them at west marine and couldn't resist. I tried to justify it in that the screw heads can catch on the dive socks and fray them but that's pretty far fetched because I deburr them anyways if the tops get damaged. So it's just cosmetic, a neat way of hiding the screw head. It's made of two pieces; one the screw goes through and then the top part clips on to that once the screw bottoms out. The cooler corner is solid BTW, the only drawback is if the cooler is not in place you don't want to jam your foot into it. But I anticipate that the cooler will be there all the time.

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