All formula owners-

I am in the process of stripping my 311 down to get painted and ran into a little problem. The bolsters are through bolted to the side of the boat with three 1/2in bolts. When I started taking them out the bolt started moving and I am not able to reach or see the bolt heads. The question I have is has anyone pulled out thier bolsters out of a 1989 to 1992 formula and how did you do it? Did you have to take the seat out of the bolster to get to the bolts? Thanks for your help.

Don

I did my 1989 two years ago , and if I remember correctly I had the same problem. I reached in the side panel...started loosening the nuts and the bolts started turning .
I believe I removed all the bolts from the underside of the bolster and pulled it out , leaving that bracket bolted to the side panel .
But I've slept since then so I could be wrong

dgduck13,

I think it will help to remove the bolster from the bracket first to get more access to the bolt heads. There should be 4 smaller bolts (1/4 inch?) underneath each side securing the bolster frame to the bracket and stantion. I had a problem with these loosening up on my '89 311 a few years ago, so make sure you snug them down good with new nylock nuts when re-assembling. The '90 and newer bolsters might be slightly different, but should be through-bolted in the same manner.