Bow "eye" bolt broken

[Guest]

We have a '72 DSII. The "eye" on the bow pulled out the other day when we were winching the boat back on the trailer. How to replace this? Inside the cuddy, there is a bulkhead that prevents access to the inside of the bolt. (At least I would guess there is a bolt securing this to the keel.)

It seems that the only way to access and repair this would be to cut through the bulkhead -- not what I'd want to do.

Anyone have some experience here?

thanks.

Doug (doug-at-mdcresearch.com)

[gary l. britton]

I have a 1966, Day Sailer so I am not sure if your DS II is like the DS I or not. But to get to the bolt, I found the my bulkhead is just held on with about 8-12 screws. I just removed the screws and the plate on the bulkhead came right off and no problem getting to the bolt you are talking about, other than being a tight squeeze. That is one thing I really like about the Day Sailer, it is very easy to do backyard boat repairs.

Hope that this helps.

Fair Winds.

Gary

[Roger]

I have a 1974 DS II and had to do this repair last year. Give yourself a good half day. It is quite frustrating, only because of the limited space you are working in. Here is how I did it. From the front of the boat, drill out the hole for the size of the new boweye bolt. Insert a stiff straightened out coathanger. You should be able to push it in about 18 inches before it hits the bulkhead. Now inside the cuddy, using a dremmel tool, I cut a circular hole in the bulkhead that would later fit an 4" inspection port. Draw it out first. The center of the hole would be about 6" below the top of the cuddy. Behind that is rigid foam. Laying inside the boat, head first, with a shop vac and mask on (the dust is putrid) start chiseling away a tunnel towards the suspected location of the bow eye. At first you can chisel out fairly big chunks, but once you are about 8-10 inches in, it is a bit more difficult. At one point I duct taped the chisel to the end of the shop vac hose and stabbed and pryed away. Eventually your tunnel will intercept your coat hanger, and you can then use it as a feeler guide for the rest of your tunnel. Once you get to the front, you can use a flatter chisel up against the fiberglass hull to scrape off any remaining foam. There is a metal backing plate back there that you will feel. Clean out your tunnel as best you can, and have a friend insert the boweye bolt from the front of the boat, while you apply the washer and nut, literally elbow deep from your position. It is best to put the washer on first, remove your arm, then go in with the nut and spin it on. With a long socket extension tighten up the nut. I actually had to use two socket extensions to reach the 18" in to the back of the nut.

When this is done, mount the inspection port. Don't worry about replacing the foam, you may have to go back in there again. As well, you have a nice place for your booty!

[Guest]

I replaced the bow eye in my DSII this Spring, used a 1/2" SS U bolt about 4 to 6 long, use some adhesive sealant and when you cut the hole in the bulhead of the cuddy, make sure you tape the rough opening I used duct tape to keep from getting the fiberglass in your arm, it was fairly easy and is now working very well

Greg (gciampa-at-cox.net)

[radtek71]

YOu must cut a hole in the bulk head. It is simple.Get the cheapest 4 inch angle grinder you can get. YOu will get a lot of use out of it on your boat. Then cut a 8 inch by 8 inch square. it needs to be this big because you will have to remove about half of the blocks of foam floation to be able to acess the bolt. YOu will need someone on the outside to hold the bow eye and keep it from turning. YOu also can just get a knew bolt because it screws into the bow eye they are two pieces