Bow Eye?

Bunky

Petty Officer 2nd Class
Joined
May 21, 2004
Messages
178
I have an old Wagemaker Aluminum boat... The bow eye on the front is an old aluminum one that has 2 smaller holes in it and my anchor hook is a tight fit... I would like to replace it but the problem is that the bolt that holds mine on is 5/8" and the largest i find is 3/8" does someone know where I can find one with a bigger stud or have another idea of how to change this???
 

sdunt

Petty Officer 1st Class
Joined
Sep 11, 2005
Messages
389
Re: Bow Eye?

Actually I repaired the replacement of the bow eye in my fiberglass boat, where someone had used a smaller shanked bolt than the hole.

Basically I cut a new wood block for the inside that had to new smaller hole in it. I lined that up and 'poxied it to the inside of the boat. I filled the larger bow hole with epoxy putty and also added epoxy putty around the base of the bow eye and bolted it all up. The epoxy putty will fill in the surrounding space and also seals the joint to make it watertite.

Un less you are going to some how find an aluminun tube with dimentions that match the old hole on the OD and the new bow hook on the ID, you're stuck with using fillers. Even if you ahd the tube you would STILL coat it with Epoxy before the install to seal things up.
 

Mark42

Fleet Admiral
Joined
Oct 8, 2003
Messages
9,334
Re: Bow Eye?

My guess the 5/8" bolt is aluminum too, that is why it is so thick. Using the 3/8" stainless steel will be plenty strong.

Depending on how it is attached, you can do as sdunt said, or if it doesn't have a block on back you should give some thought to isolating it from the aluminum with some rubber (like from an inner tube) or gasket material and seal with something like Boatlife to prevent galvanic action between dis-like metals.

Probably not a real problem on fresh water, but put that in salt water and POW! big hole in bow where bow eye used to be.... LOL!
 
Top