Bavaria 40 Cruiser: Bathing platform broken (bolt cracked)

[Krumelur]

While lifting up the platform of my 40 the left part of it suddenly dropped and I found the lower bolt holding the platform in place had cracked. It's insanity as this is a bolt thicker than my thumb.
I presume what happened was that the welding of the bolt to the plate screwed to the hull wasn't well done and gave in to excessive forces applied over the years.
The big unknown is now how to best fix this?
I can go and find a place to do the welding but how to get the platform out and back in? It will only fit if the plate (with bolt) is inserted into the platform before doing the screws. But from what I can tell, I can only reach the screws as long as the platform isn't mounted!? 

All hints welcome!

Platform (it's the first version, not full width yet):


The broken bolt is from the lower left corner where the platform is pivoting:


These two pics show how the welding is gone. Am I supposed to remove the screws, insert bolt and plate, get it all in place and put screws back in?



The bolt is pretty thick:

[Mirror45184]

Kremelur,

The good news is that it is not the bolt that has broken, only the weld to the mounting plate. When you get the side mounting plate off this can be welded back in place. I notice that you have replaced the electric lifting ram with a pulley system, which I also replaced in 2015. I have attached a photo of my system for reference. One thing that I did with the system was to put a stopper knot in the cord so when lowered the platform was mostly held on the pulley and only when heavily loaded did it push against the stop on the side plate. This will place a high load on the pivot pin.

As you have already noted the platform will need to be undone from the plates or the plates removed from the hull. It appears that it would be easier to support the platform and remove the hinge plates from the hull. As the Starboard pin has conveniently disconnected itself, you will only need to undo the Port hinge plate. The Starboard one can then be removed and the broken pieces reunited with the help of a competent stainless steel welder.
Good Luck!