Question:
Would you believe it? the bow eye broke on my 16 ft aluminum gregor jet boat. I
think the former owner put some flimsy bow eye on. I cut the old bow eye out
with
bolt cutters - drilled a bigger hole for the new eye . the marine guy said to
use epoxy to fill in the hole after a toggle style bolt was put in to hold the
new and more substantial eye. another guy (not a marine tech) said that it had
to be welded. any suggestions? I plan to use another tie-down from a bow ring
to make
sure the boat doesn't slide off the trailer (kind of important huh?) I am not
in the habit of putting a lot of strain on the bow eye (I put the trailer in
the water a little
Answer:
- Most bow eyes are thru bolted w/ a front plate and backing plate. The holes
are siliconed up and the plates cover the holes and provide support.
To do the job properly you have to get to the hull where the bow eye goes
thru. Either you have to remove the deck/cap (depending on boat) or you
might be able to reach the bow from a hatch up front. Depends on the boat.
I guess you could weld it in place but it will probably look like crap.
- if your friend is saying that you should tig weld the eyelet to the boat
hull i would smile and go with what you was told by the marine guy.......you
can tig weld the eyelet and do a very neat job but with the boat and eyelet
not being made of pure alluminum you get a week weld then to top it of as
you have no way of heat harderning the weld you risk the eyelet coming off
or a section of your boat weakened by the heat ripping away from the
hull......if you ask someone who welds how to fix something you will always
get told the same ...."i can weld that" which is proberly true it doesnt
mean it should be welded
