Stainless that is completely encapsulated supposedly has a high risk of corrosion. Something about no oxygen being able to contact the surface which would otherwise form a protective oxide layer.

I used thickened Raka to embed the grab loop u-bolts in the bow and stern of my Guillemot 18. The boat hangs all year by these U-bolts, so I assume the bond is good enough!! I really roughed up the ends of the u-bolts with a coarse grinder. I think this really helped, as the epoxy doesn't chemically bond to stainless (that I know of) but I really increased the surface area for the epoxy to bond around.

Think of it this way--steel doesn't (normally) bond to steel, but a nut stays on a bolt better than a washer does on a smooth piece of rod--why? It contacts more surface area!! Think of the area of the surfaces of all those threads. Half of those threads are actually "behind" the nut, keeping it from falling off.

Shawn

: I'm building my fourth custom seat - trying different techniques every time.
: Part of this design will be a stainless steel bracket. Any idea how West
: Marine epoxy will adhere to the bracket?