Leaderboard

J I am by no means a pro but the process of installing my bow eye or any other bolt or screw are to use a non hardening bedding compound, for bolts I drill the hole slightly oversized to allow the compound to fill the void, with screws drill your pilot hole screw in your screw dry remove fill the hole with compound also apply compound to the part to be installed and a little on the screw and install and you should have a little squeeze out. This should prevent any water intrusion and if you should need to make a repair at a latter time it will make it easier to remove the faster.

J, thanks for asking the question and you other guys for the guidance. I was just pondering the same task myself. What is the preferred non hardening bedding compound?

Mark just beat me to it. His is a good way of doing it. Your thinking of epoxying the eye in works but if you need to take that thing out later it'll be work. Making the epoxy bushing takes time upfront because have to drill the same hole twice. In fact if you aren't careful and let your drill bit wander you could be drilling that final whole more than once. I have done that. PeterP

I just drilled a hole through the bow just below the breast plate and epoxied it like the rest of the boat. No hardware at all.

With your stem taped inside and outside you don't need anymore glass tape there. Glassing the top of the backing block on the other hand provides additional compressive strength and ensures water resistance. Lapping that glass onto the ply of the hull helps distribute the stress load. Moisture ingress is a potential problem here. Drilling oversize holes and making epoxy bushings before putting the eye in is an excellent solution. PeterP

That’s a real bright idea; intended pun!

Sewing projects: I made long bags for rolling the sails, sheet bags mounted in the boat to control line tangles, and a full cover. The last was in response to my boat turning yellow during pollen season. I upgraded from a mast carrier on the transom to a light bar. I have done this on a couple of other boats back when light bulbs on trailers failed after submersion, when connections would fail, and when my dog de-wired a trailer. Maybe not needed with LEDs but it is bright and very visible.