leaky bow-eye fix

[davemcg3000]

Thought I'd pass along a fix I recently made to the bow-eye of my 1979 C-16, which I purchased pretty recently.  It had a pretty significant leak, which we discovered on our first trip out.  When I disassembled the bow-eye, I found a bit of damage inside and outside.  There was no backing internally, so the non-stainless steel washers that a previous owner had used had been working their way into the hull for some time, trailing rust with the leak into the cabin.  I think that had this been left much longer, the bow-eye could have been pulled right out of the hull!  On the exterior, the bow-eye had done some nice damage to the fiberglass as it had been allowed to shimmy back and forth while being hauled in and out of the water.  I've read how some of you fashioned a wood backing internally, but I wanted to take care of the fiberglass damage as well.  My friend, a contractor, recommended a novel idea (at least I thought so), which was to use Bondo and piece of 1/4" stainless steel plate to make the backing.  We cut the the stainless plate to about 3"x5", and drilled the holes in it for the U-bolt to fit into. 

There was some exposed wood behind the fiberglass so I saturated this with wood hardener first and let it cure.  Then applied Bondo to the exterior filling in all the cracked areas and squeezing some Bondo into the holes for the bow-eye.  Next, I applied a pretty large glob to the interior over the bow-eye holes.  I then inserted the bow-eye through the holes, so that it had a nice fit into the Bondo externally, and the ends of the U-bolt were sticking out through the glob of Bondo on the inside.  Finally, I fit the stainless plate onto the bolt, embedding the plate firmly into the Bondo, and finally, fastened the nuts to hold it all in place.  Once the Bondo set, I had a permanent backing that doesn't leak. 

The only downside to this approach is that if I ever have a reason to remove the bow-eye again, it's going to take some serious doing.  But, I couldn't think of any good reason why I would need to take out the bow-eye, so there you go.  Also, Bondo has a way of taking a relatively simple job and making it really frustrating - that stuff gets everywhere and the fumes are nasty.  But, I'm happy with this fix.  No more leaky bow-eye.  Now, it's onto the leaky scuppers.........

Dave,
Seattle

[Bob23]

Dave:
   I love Bondo but I have not had occasion to use it on my Compac, a 1985 23/2. I'm sure, given enough time, I will. That's a good method for fixing a loose bow eye. I'll pass this on to my brother whose O'Day Mariner broke free of her mooring last year during a raging Nor'easter here in NJ. The cause? Broken bow eye-snapped in half.
   Keep in mind, that I don't believe Compac recommends using the bow eye for a mooring point. I might be wrong, but I seem to remember reading an old post here at the site concerning this.
I believe that the mooring cleat on the foredeck is intended for this.
I'm sure there is more info out there. In fact, I think I can hear it coming now!
Bob23 and s/v "Koinonia"