Did I fix my eye bolt correctly?

[mike64]

Noticed my eye bolt was loose last time I took the boat out-- went under the bow to tighten and found the 2 bolts went through a piece of backing wood that was like a 2" x 2" about 6" long, shaped into a wedge to fit into the bow "crease". The wood piece wasn't glassed in, just held in place with the eye bolt. Each of the 2 bolts from the eye going through the wood piece had a spring washer/nut/spring washer/nut setup that had apparently been tightened so many times they were sunk halfway through the wood. There was a crack going down the center of the wood piece-- think I was a winching or 2 from ripping the eye completely out.

So I used the old piece of wood as a template and shaped a new piece from PT wood, and used fender washers against the wood so the nuts wouldn't sink in to the wood (so it's fender washer/nut/spring washer/nut now). Used 4200 for waterproofing.

My question is, is this adequate to support the bow eye? Except for using the fender washers, I basically just recreated the old setup, which I don't know if it was original or somebody's bad repair job. It's a 900-1000 lb. 16' boat.

Didn't think to take a pic, but if my long-winded explanation doesn't help, I'll post one tomorrow.

 

[bhammer]

Re: Did I fix my eye bolt correctly?

That should be more than enough to work. You could drop some loctite on there jsut to make sure you don't loosen up if ya wanted but probably wont need it.

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: Did I fix my eye bolt correctly?

i would not loctite, you have lock washers on it. could hinder tighten 5 years down the road. you did good

 

[dingbat]

Re: Did I fix my eye bolt correctly?

Lock nuts on a boat are pretty useless as the vibration will loosen them over time. Use Ny-loc nuts and never look back.

 

[tmh]

Re: Did I fix my eye bolt correctly?

Mine was a wood block glassed in (pretty heavy glass) and it rotted creating kind of a hollow fiberglass shell. Sounds like yours wasn't glassed in the first place so you likely did the right fix. I'd have soaked some resin into the wood before putting it in, but being PT wood maybe you'd have had to let it dry for months to really get the resin to work on it. If it stays mostly dry it should last a long time.

 

[mike64]

Re: Did I fix my eye bolt correctly?

Thanks for the replies, guys!

tmh, that would have been a good idea to resin the wood first-- the PT wood was from a batch I bought last year so it was good and dry. Oh well, it's easy enough to replace.

 

[Boatist]

Re: Did I fix my eye bolt correctly?

I did mine about the same was as you did. I used a block of hard wood and sealed with some varnish. Drilled holes to match bow U bolt pattern then use a 2 inch wide by 1/4 inch thick aluminum bar behind the block. Then put on 2 lock washer then two Stainless Steel nuts. Last used two Stainless steel Nylon lock nuts up tight to help lock the other 2 nuts.

Between the block and the Aluminum hull use 4200 3M sealer to make sure it was water tight even thou it is above the normal water line in calm water.

About a year later needed to tighten just a tiny bit but has been good since

 

[mike64]

Re: Did I fix my eye bolt correctly?

I did mine about the same was as you did. I used a block of hard wood and sealed with some varnish. Drilled holes to match bow U bolt pattern then use a 2 inch wide by 1/4 inch thick aluminum bar behind the block. Then put on 2 lock washer then two Stainless Steel nuts. Last used two Stainless steel Nylon lock nuts up tight to help lock the other 2 nuts.

Between the block and the Aluminum hull use 4200 3M sealer to make sure it was water tight even thou it is above the normal water line in calm water.

About a year later needed to tighten just a tiny bit but has been good since

Yeah, sounds like that eyebolt's staying put, Boatist!

 

[Boatist]

Re: Did I fix my eye bolt correctly?

Mine is not a EyeBolt it is a 3/8 inch Stainless Steel U Bolt and it solid now.
It needs to be solid as the wench and saftey chain attach to it.

 

[reelfishin]

Re: Did I fix my eye bolt correctly?

It's common on an older boat to have the bow eye support either rust away or rot. On some boats, they used steel, sometimes steel over wood. After numerous years in saltwater, steel blocks are usually rusted away to nothing.
I've taken stainless angle iron and made up gussets and cross braces and drilled that for my support, even making the new support longer if space allows.
On smaller boats, I try to cut a block of hard wood to fit backing it with stainless steel. If I use wood, I cover it in epoxy resin after drilling and after installation as well. The epoxy will help hold the nuts in place but yet will be removable if needed. I would say that nearly every glass boat I've owned has had a problem here.