Bow Eye Replacement

willy

willy

God
How tough is it to replace the bow eye that sticks thru the hull and has the backing block inside the anchor locker, my boat has that block and two nuts pretty corroded ?
 
did it on my sea ray a couple years back... if i remember correctly it was a real pain in the ass. just gaining access to the area and getting the old hardware out... not a big job, just kind of tough is all.
 
were you able to cut off bolts on inside and just pull thru and if so what did you replace that backing block with on inside
 
Hey Bill, break out the sawzall our go to the local flea market, I bought a small handheld grinder with a metal cut off wheel for 24 bucks, thats a bad dude, wet down a couple of old towels to catch the sparks - you'll have it of in 15 minutes
 
Thanks Franco, is it embedded in glass under it, all I can see is the rusted surface in the anchor locker and a couple of rusted nuts, whats under it that reinforces that eye.
 
I didn't have to replace mine. I'm guessing that your talking about the plate inside the hull is embedded in the glass. I was checking one of those lifting eye/bow eye combinations at the boat store. If you cut the nuts off, you should be able to break it free and drive it out using a hammer and a drift - just be patient. If its not damaged outside you can us some 3m 5200 sealer as a bedding compound when hyou replace it. If it has any damage go to the west system site and look in the online manuals of using that as a bedding compound. You ought to talk to skools out, he is one sharp dude on stuff like that. Not to mention a good guy
 
Get a grinder!! Its a boaters best friend!! Will make short work of getting the old one out.
I might replace mine in the spring?? It is bent to one side.
I will grind it and then install the new one with some 1/4 inch dimond plate Alummin I have hanging around.

Pretty easy fix!!
 
I REPLACED MINE LAST YEAR AFTER HALF THE LOOP SNAPPED WHILE PULLING THE BOAT UP THE TRAILER ,I CUT MINE FLUSH ,ON THE OUT SIDE THEN PUNCHED THE PIECES IN SIDE THE HULL, GOOD LUCK
 
Jaysea, THAT'S exactly what I's gonna suggest...cut it from the OUTSIDE then knock 'em in... ;)...

Willy, once you get the "eye" cleared outta the way, IF you can get to the metal reinforcement, wire brush rust away and paint w/zinc-heavy spray...then install new eye...
 
Thanks RP and all, so the consensus is to cut eye off oustside and drift punch it in, find a suitable piece of no rust metal cut to shape, 5200 area to seal, but where do you get the actual correct size bow eye from ???
 
Did the same thing on mine, just make sure you cut close to the hull as you can because the u-bolt on mine had a bump-out that stuck out to keep the u-bolt from going past a certain point. I'm sure someone else can make more sense of my gibberish :-[ , but you'll see what I mean if you look at it closely.
 
when mine eye broke my thought was to get one bigger an stronger but after going an shoping for the new eye the easiest ,was to get the same size,no redrilling or resizing the hull,there standard sized
 
so you guys are saying that the outside is larger diameter than the part that goes thru the hull so that it won't pull in when you tighten it from inside right
 
Ya know, Jeff's right...I think there IS a ''shoulder'' on the outside of the bolt...which means you're back to the INSIDE for cutting...you might find it easier to drill out the nut...go at an angle and drill into where the side of the bolt and top of the nut meet...tap it and strart small... ;)...
 
Mine was so badly rotted that all it took was to tighten it a little and it snaped off!

On this boat I might have to grind it?? But they also have outside plates so when you tigten it it won't pull through. I might go this way with the new one?
 
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