Larger cleats

[rsmith]

Ok so after surviving the 04 hurricanes I came to the conclusion that I needed larger cleats. I have always double lines the boat if I'm gone for any period of time. During France's and jeane I watched brand new 3/4" lines saw through chafing gear and the line in about an hour of 100mph winds.
I bought some monster cleats from SAMs and have had them sitting in the shop since. The Hatt stern cleat mounting has never failed but I'm not real happy abought the gap between the cockpit liner and the hull. Seems there is about 3/4" of air there. If you don't use cap nuts to bottom the bolts the liner bends inward and distorts. I thought about sliding a piece of starboard but its not easy to get up in there and I still don't think it will make a tight "sandwich" other than the hole saw fill and redrill any ideas?

 

[Cricket]

It might be easier to cut the ledge the liner sits on to be able to get some filler up there and then epoxy and glass it back in place, tough to work under there on top of the exhaust. We used stainless barrel nuts for the stern cleats instead of the acorn nuts, never noticed the liner flex on ours but who knows. Always wanted to put a plate in between the hull and liner to be able to tap instead of using nuts but really couldn't figure an easy way to get it in there. Did the hawse pipes cut the lines or the cleats? Changed to large hawse pipes in the transom which I think gives a better angle on the lines for chafe than from the gunnel. Also increased the size of the spring line cleats and through bolted then instead of just being tapped. On the bow we went with 15" cleats with huge 1/2" fiberglass backing plates under the deck and also removed the balsa around the bolt holes and packed with thickened epoxy. All this after we had a bow cleat semi pull out and actually bend in a storm. Don't forget to increase the chock size too.

 

[bobk]

Three thoughts:

1`, Over drill the hole in the liner and run the bolt up to the back side of the hull. Cap the larger hole in the liner with a trim piece.

2, put a temporary plug into the liner hole and fill with thickened epoxy until the gap is filled. Use a fast cure. You can probably get the epoxy up to the back of the hull in 3-4 pours, allowing a cure between each. Once the gap is filled, re drill the hole. If you try this, be sure you know where the resin overflow will go.

3, cut an access hole in the liner that would allow one (or two) of those removable plugs to be inserted. This ought to give you room for a serious washer or backing plate.

Bobk

 

[Finalee]

Had this same problem on a dinghy. I inserted a sleeve in the gap that the bolts went through. Once tightened down the cleat no longer flexed. Everything was a smaller scale, but if you have the room it is an easy thing to try.

 

[thoward]

Initial thought...Put some thin wood surrounding the lower & sides of the 4 bolts. Put some sacrificial bolts coated with lube in the holes. Fill the wood "bowl" with 404 filler.