I traded my 26ft boat for a 18'6" boat recently and after going over it, to get it ready for X'Mas and found a few things that needed to be done so that I can sleep at night.
First off, the bow eye u-bolt holding the boat to the trailer was bent, so unbolted it. The threaded section of the u-bolt was made of 7.5mm stainless and front hook part out of 9.5mm and it was bent as in the photo, this size is suitable for a small tinny and not for an 18.5ft boat
After looking through a boat chandlers for a larger size they had them but the gape also increased so made a replacement out of 12mm stainless so I wouldn't have to fill one of the holes and re-drill a new one, this way I just needed to bore out the existing holes with a larger drill.
Turned out a bit harder than anticipated as 12mm stainless doesn't want to bend easily in to a small radius. I don't have anything to bend it with so did it the old fashion way, threaded the ends first then Oxy acet., to heat it up so it wouldn't fracture and squashed it down in the vice, but the legs with the threads ended up a bit wonky so had to straighten them up, followed by a quick tidy up and polish.
A few beads of Sikaflex 291 to seal the holes and it fitted without drama so no more worrying about if the boat is going to separate from the winch cable at the ramp or on the highway.
Next the samson post needed a look at, that is the post that holds the anchor rope when anchored for the non boaties here, unbelievable, 4 x 3/16" stainless screws hold the post down to the deck, with a small 12mm x 100mm square ply pad underneath to spread the load. The mild steel washers had rusted out so only the 3/16" nuts stopped it from being pulled out.
So looks like I will have to glass some more timber underneath to spread the load out and will make a stainless custom samson post with bigger bolts to suit, but that will be in a week or two. More pics to follow.
First off, the bow eye u-bolt holding the boat to the trailer was bent, so unbolted it. The threaded section of the u-bolt was made of 7.5mm stainless and front hook part out of 9.5mm and it was bent as in the photo, this size is suitable for a small tinny and not for an 18.5ft boat
After looking through a boat chandlers for a larger size they had them but the gape also increased so made a replacement out of 12mm stainless so I wouldn't have to fill one of the holes and re-drill a new one, this way I just needed to bore out the existing holes with a larger drill.
Turned out a bit harder than anticipated as 12mm stainless doesn't want to bend easily in to a small radius. I don't have anything to bend it with so did it the old fashion way, threaded the ends first then Oxy acet., to heat it up so it wouldn't fracture and squashed it down in the vice, but the legs with the threads ended up a bit wonky so had to straighten them up, followed by a quick tidy up and polish.
A few beads of Sikaflex 291 to seal the holes and it fitted without drama so no more worrying about if the boat is going to separate from the winch cable at the ramp or on the highway.
Next the samson post needed a look at, that is the post that holds the anchor rope when anchored for the non boaties here, unbelievable, 4 x 3/16" stainless screws hold the post down to the deck, with a small 12mm x 100mm square ply pad underneath to spread the load. The mild steel washers had rusted out so only the 3/16" nuts stopped it from being pulled out.
So looks like I will have to glass some more timber underneath to spread the load out and will make a stainless custom samson post with bigger bolts to suit, but that will be in a week or two. More pics to follow.