Why Am I Not Having Fun Yet ?

Bought the boat 6 months ago and other than rain water, haven't gotten it wet yet.

I just keep finding more things that need attention on my new, to me 20 foot center console, before I can take it out for a ride.

The Bow Eye looks really good, if you don't actually look to see what it is attached to. On the inside, both the nuts & bolts are rusted to the point that I am going to cut the eye bolt off with a electrical grinder.

The spread on the bolt is no more than 1 inch to ? inch. And with the amount of rust, I worry about the structure strength at that point of the hull fiber. If I put the boat in the water now, I will have to winch it out with that eye bolt and will probably just pull this through and leave a big hole.

I am thinking single piece, hard wood, cut to match the angle of the bow. Epoxied for strength & glued to the inside, with a larger spread bolt (2 inch) to pull the seal in tight.

Any one have any better ideas ? I am wide open at this point and appreciate any advise out there.

Thanks !

Re: Why Am I Not Having Fun Yet ?

You could get a piece of angled aluminum from the hardware store and drill the holes through that and use it to back the eye up. You can double it up if you have enough threads in the eye.