bow eye repair

[Pete]

The bow on my new venture is pretty beat up, probably from running into the unprotected bow guide on the trailer which I will be attending to later. The scratches are deep but I think I can fix them easy enough. The real trick is going to be the bow eye. I need to gain access to the nuts on the back of the eye. What I am thinking of doing is cutting the hull liner to gain access, and then make a teak plate to cover the hole. the hull liner is flat at the bow and even has a ridge about one inch in from the edge that seams to say "cut here".


bow eye and bow damage.


hull liner


Back side of the bow eye


The good news is that this is the only hull damage.

[johnnyonspot]

Wow, amazing they don't have any sort of backing plate in there to help support that eye. Since you are repairing it, I would definitely figure out some way to put in a backing plate to spread the load more than those nuts do. Otherwise your plan sounds like a good one to me.

[kmclemore]

There is a backing plate on later boats, and I would have thought there was one on your boat as well. Has this part been off the boat before?

[tonyb02]

hey guys i had a similar problem with my bow eye on a v-22 and what i did was tighten the bolts when we took her out again about two inchs of shaft showing past the washers so i drilled out a piece of aluminum about 6 inches square and put that as a back plate be careful not to pinch the wires for the bowlight or they will short out your elect panel and your battery..use clear silicone or white to seal it it works better...but the hull liner was a hard to get around had to do it by feel only couldnt see the boweye DO NOT DROP ANYTHING.....

[Pete]

I finally got the bow eye out. Ended up have to cut it into two pieces. I found out what the problem is. It looks like a piece of wood was glassed in at the factory. This piece of wood then got wet from water leaking in around the bow eye and rotted away until the eye pulled out. A previous owner Remedied the problem by just tightening the nuts down against the hull.

Once I got the eye out I was able to remove all the glass work that was around the piece of wood. To night I will finish cleaning up the inside of the hull and fit a new piece of wood that I can glass in. Anyone have any suggestions on what type of wood to use?

[baldbaby2000]

I had the same problem on my mac 25. The wood backing was rotted. I put in a piece of stainless steel or aluminum--can't remember which--with holes for the bow eye. They I filled in the spot between the metal and the bow with fiberglass and resin. I left the hole open because it was a good cubby hole for storage. I saw our old boat a few weeks ago and the new owners had a coffee pot sitting in the hole!

[johnnyonspot]

Yeah, why not go with stainless or aluminum? Wood was used once and failed, so why go there again? Kind of asking for trouble IMHO.

[puggsy]

And why not consider another 'backing' plate, but in FRONT as well as one ar the back. A straight bar with two holes that match the parallel shafts. It cannot slip any further forward due to the curve of the bow eye. If you happen to run into anything, this plate will prevent the 'eye' driving further into the hull, loosening the locking nuts. Sort of a combined washer. As for the back plate, make it as large an area as possible.
Puggsy

[jgellis15]

Good post...I have the exact same problem with my Mac 25....I have a big hole up front where somebody messed with the bow eye once before, after I make this fix, I am going to make a door to cover the hole up....I always wanted to build an anchor well somewhere in this area too....but am afraid it would make the v-birth too clausterphobic...guess I will just keep using the 5 gallon pails from Home Depot. Greg

[Pete]

I ended up cutting the u-bolt and needed a replacement. I ordered one from McMaster-Carr Part Number 29535T16 for $13.10. I received it today and its a perfect replacement.

[Pete]

This is the block I am going to use to back the bow eye. I cut it from a hardwood pallet. (I like free stuff) I was able to plane it down until I had a nice clean block of hardwood. I then ran a corner rounding bit in the router around it. Its a little long in this picture. I am going to cut about 4 inches off of it. It actually fit nicely in the bow with just the rounded edges. I decided to go with wood because its a little easier to work with. To keep it from rotting I am going to attempt to completely encase it in fiberglass. The last one lasted for 30 years so I think I will be good.

[johnnyonspot]

Sounds like a good plan to me.

[DaveB]

Pete, if you want to do the job right...take out the Ubolt and replace with 316 stainless steel.
To build a backing plate , cut a sheet of clear plastic wrap and mix up some quick set plaster of paris bond they use in castings for broken legs , to build a form, once hard take out and use as a mold for fiberglass.
Fiberglass the mold to your specks and you will have a perfect backing plate.
Dave

[Pete]

I made some good headway on the boat this weekend. With 70 deg weather it gave me a good chance to do some fiberglass work. To fix the bow I first glassed in a couple layers of fiberglass on the inside of the hull. I needed to do this to keep the next layers of epoxy from falling out the two large holes in the bow. I also put a coating of resin on the wood block I had ready. Once the resin setup on the hull I mixed up some thickened epoxy and put a heavy bead on the inside of the bow. I then pressed the wood into the epoxy and formed a nice fillet with the extra. I let that setup and then came back and glassed in several layers of cloth. I also filled the holes and scratches on the outside of the hull.

Now all I have to do is a little sanding and mount the u-bolt.

While I was at it I also pulled off the motor mount and repaired those holes where the wood had rotted and pulled thru.

I will get some pictures up soon.

[Sailing Hamlet]

Pete-
Assuming you've finished this project, did you get any pictures of the process. I have to do this to my 2-22 and would like to know what it all will look like. I'm particularly interested in what cutting a whole in the liner to get to the bow eye looks like.
Thanks,
Tristan
PS> Thanks in advance to everyone on the board. Got my boat in August and have had it out a couple times on Joe Pool Lake (Arlington, TX), and this BB has been invaluable for information!