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Bow cleats

treilley

Sustaining Partner
I removed the Anchor locker this weekend to reseal it and rebed some deck HW on the bow. I found that 2 of the nuts(outer) for the bow cleats were encased in FG. I had to gind away with my Dremel and open those up so I could pot the holes and redrill them. That being a high load area I was wondering if they need to be reglassed. There is a nice 1/4" backing plate and this glass is below that. I will post some photos later.
 

u079721

Contributing Partner
Tim,

I've not worked on a 35, but I have re-bedded the bow cleats on our E38, and the nuts and backing plates were free of fiberglass (for what that's worth). If you have a good backing plate in place I can't imagine you need to glass over the nuts.

Some folks believe that glassing over nuts that you really don't want to ever loosen is a way to keep them secure, but I am not convinced that they just won't loosen underneath the glass, and would rather maintain access.
 

Sven

Seglare
No backing plate

I was crawling around in the aft lazarett yesterday to measure for a future Cape Horn installation.

I was disappointed to find the stern cleats have no backing plates, just four tiny little nuts holding them in place (center of picture).

Add another project to the list.
 

Attachments

  • Cleat no backing plate.jpg
    Cleat no backing plate.jpg
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Loren Beach

O34 - Portland, OR
Senior Moderator
Blogs Author
G10/FR4 to the rescue

Sven,
I would suggest buying a piece of epoxy/cloth plate about 3/8 or more thick and cutting out backing plates you can then set in epoxy mush. Do the overdrill-fill-with-epoxy-and-redrill procedure for the old cleat holes. Thubolt them with ss fender washer under that new epoxy backing plate. That plate material is sold as "G10/FR4" by most suppliers.
There are some pics on this site of backups I did like this for our boat, except that I did reuse the factory ss backing plates as opposed to fender washers.

Propping up the new backers with a stick, working against gravity in some far recess of one's boat poses interesting challenges, I can testify. :)

LB
 

Sven

Seglare
Hi Loren,

Propping up the new backers with a stick, working against gravity in some far recess of one's boat poses interesting challenges, I can testify. :)

What I did when installing a backing plate like that was to drill a small hole in the center and put in a temporary screw from above to hold the plate in place while the epoxy cured. It took two of us, but only for a few seconds, one holding from below while the other drove the screw in from above. I pulled out the screw when done.

I'll take a look at your pages, thanks !


-Sven
 

Cory B

Sustaining Member
Tim,
For what its worth, on our 35-3 the bow cleat nuts were not glassed over. Maybe the cleats were attached to the deck, before the deck was attached to the hull, and when they glassed the two together they weren't too neat or tidy?
 
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treilley

Sustaining Partner
I took my cleats into the local metal shop to have them re-annodized. He said they would not come out very good because they are cast aluminum. He said Nickel plating would be much better. Anyone know anyhting about nickel plating? Does it last?
 

Martin King

Sustaining Member
Blogs Author
Tim,
I've done nickel plating on some of my woodworking machine restos.
It holds up well, but it's not living in a marine environment either.

I would probably ditch the aluminum for ss units.

Martin
 

Loren Beach

O34 - Portland, OR
Senior Moderator
Blogs Author
FWIW... Those expensive cast alum. cleats from Schaeffer are either LPU painted or powder coated... black or white.
Perhaps that might be an alternative. Perhaps you could clean and (re) coat the existing ones.
I have been considering refinishing of my cast aluminum cleats, too, although not really a pressing agenda item.

LB
 
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treilley

Sustaining Partner
I would replace the cleats but I cannot find any with the same hole pattern. Not even Schaefer who made the originals.
 

Mindscape

Member III
Tim,
I've got a friend that has nickle plated a number of things on his boat and they have held up nicely for the 2-3 seasons they have been on the boat. That is in freshwater and the Chicago area.
 

gareth harris

Sustaining Member
Some folks believe that glassing over nuts that you really don't want to ever loosen is a way to keep them secure, but I am not convinced that they just won't loosen underneath the glass, and would rather maintain access.

That and glassing over the nuts is a great way to keep the water that will eventually leak from above in the deck core and bolt/nut, causing all sorts of problems.
 

treilley

Sustaining Partner
Good point Gareth. Tha is why I pot all through deck fittings with thickened epoxy when I rebed.

BTW, the core was dry and in good condition. It was very difficult to dig out any balsa. The sealant that came out was fairly pliable too.
 

Martin King

Sustaining Member
Blogs Author
I would replace the cleats but I cannot find any with the same hole pattern. Not even Schaefer who made the originals

I ran into this on the 39 resto. I ended up having new cleats made out
of solid ss to the old pattern. That's them in the foreground by the winches.
cockpit-1.jpg
 
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