What were they thinking...?

[s2sailorlis]

Have been leaking since I purchased her. Prior person did a half-baked job replacing bolts, undersized of course. Plus the moron who did it before didn’t bed the winch made to the deck. So redoing the right job. I have to wonder why they designed it such that I need to deal with this bolt mounting issue...ugh...plus from what I can tell there is no backing plate under the deck...

Fun begins chopping up washers to make a fair base to mount the nuts...

[s2sailorlis]

This might work...if I shape it a bit...

[shavdog]

You could probably do the same thing with pvc pipe...I have seen tapered backing plates online....

[s2sailorlis]

A friend suggested InstaMorph. I’m going to give that a try as it can be molded perfectly against the curve. I’ll report back on how it works.

[Frenchy]

Another thought is to shape a piece of fiberglass tube and epoxy in place. This way, the tube won't tend to creep
as you tighten the nut. - Jean

[s2sailorlis]

The InstaMorph should work....I did a small test batch. Once it hardened I threw it into my shop vice and clamped down on it hard, it didn’t crack or really deform... the stuff is impressive, 2 minutes in 160 degree water and it molds like play-doh. Threw it in a glass of ice water and it hardened in a minute or so..,

6 oz bag was $10 on Amazon with next day delivery via Prime...

[Joe CD MS 300]

Looking at their website I couldn’t find any info on the structural strength of Instamorph. With a relative low temperature that it is moldable I wouldn’t use it for anything structural like cleats, stantions, etc. temps can get pretty high under a deck in the full sun at least with out knowing more.

[s2sailorlis]

I had the same concern but for $10 I figured what the heck. I can use this stuff for other things around the house.

On Sunday it was in the mid-80’s and the boat sat on my blacktop driveway. I mounted the other winch (which only needed a washer because the inner liner was flat where the bolt came thru.) Early afternoon, using my infrared thermometer the bolt was reading about 94 degrees on the inside. I’ll continue to monitor it.

The inner liner was reading about same temperature as the bolt.

On the outside I checked the winch temperature and it was reading around 120ish. The deck next to the winch was reading about 130ish. Worse case the InstaMorph serves as a model for fabricating a piece of teak!

Looking at their website I couldn’t find any info on the structural strength of Instamorph. With a relative low temperature that it is moldable I wouldn’t use it for anything structural like cleats, stantions, etc. temps can get pretty high under a deck in the full sun at least with out knowing more.

[Jim Davis]

I think you are on the right track. Where you mocked up a backer from copper pipe. Use a short length of 3/4 pvc shaped to fit the hull, then fill with epoxy, say 6-10 since it shapes well. Then drill through for the bolt and use fender washers on both ends.

[tjr818]

These are from amazon, but I think McMaster Carr would have something similar for less money.

https://www.amazon.com/Feeney-CR3792-PK ... 9BP9KTRBA8

[Jim Cornwell]

The load on those bolts is petty large and it needs to be transferred into the deck or the hull or whatever it is we're looking at. The way to do that - the only safe way, I think - is to build up a pad of fiberglass or marine plywood / epoxy that's firmly bonded to the substrate and that's at right angles to the axis of the fasteners. When the bolts are tightened, the pressure is normal to the surface of the pad and spread evenly into the underlying substrate. No magic goop out of a can can do this, I'm afraid!

[s2sailorlis]

So I’m going the route of PVC/resin. I DID use the InstaMorph to model the curve of the liner and bolted a washer behind it to get the best model. That will make it a lot easier to make rough cut of PVC and minimize lots of sanding, etc.