bow eye backing question

[Peter34]

Hi all,

curious your thoughts on this. I recently cleaned out my boat (23 ft Ericson) and got a good look at the bow (purchased spring 2024 and sailed through the summer). Attached is a photo of the backing for the bow eye. I'm not really sure the history here, but it looks like someone may have added some sort of fiberglass reinforcement at some point that then collapsed? Not really sure. It doesn't leak and the bow eye looks and functions normally from the exterior. Curious if any of you would recommend reinforcement after looking at the attached photo? Thanks!

-Peter

 

[Christian Williams]

Looks to me like Ericson just added a piece of glass cloth for reinforcement--the edges didn't stick because, well, it was Friday, or access was awkward, or it didn't matter.

This is a bow eye in the stem, for towing or trailering, yes? Looks fine to me. Other models don't have such a fitting located there.