bow cleats o'day 23

[sba55]

I bought an O'day 23 (1983) that had it's bow cleats pulled out during a hurricane here in Florida. The damaged area was repaired to the point where I can't tell where the bow cleats (which I have) should go. I don't want to just start drilling and hope it's right. I can see looking up from the v-berth that some blocks of wood (for support) are there but I can't get a drill into that tight space or it would be easy to go at it from inside the boat. Any ideas would be appreciated.

 

[HukilauMike]

If the bow cleats were pulled out, that would also mean that whatever reinforcement Oday had put in place in the deck to hold the cleats is also gone. You are now left with whatever the repair gave you; if deck reinforcement was included in that repair, the only one who would know where it is exactly, is the person who put it there. If you can see blocks of wood that could be used as support for the cleats, then by all means, use them. On the Oday 23 Mark II (your model), the cleats were very far forward towards the bow. The toe rail (assuming your toe rail still exists near the bow) is cut out at the cleats' location to allow for dock lines to have clear access to the cleats. Hopefully, your wood block location will allow you to make use of these openings. If not, then I would recommend that you put reinforcement under the deck in the proper location to allow you to have free running docklines.

 

[sba55]

The openings are there. There are wood blocks in place but I don't have any way to gauge their location from topsides. I could always remove them, remount the cleats in the openings you mentioned and make my own blocks or reuse the ones that are there.

 

[toddco]

tape a magnet to the bottom side, you should be able to douse for it.

Todd

 

[OdayDave]

Take a look at the Owner Photo Albums under the Boat Info tab and look at some photo's of the bow's of other 23's to approximate where they are on boats of the same year. I would assume that being off slightly isn't going to make a lot of difference as long as your backing plates are solid.

There aren't a lot of bow shots, but I did see one that showed the cleats:

http://oday.sailboatowners.com/inde...temid=265&pid=8961&page=sshow&mn=23&catid=173

Here's another couple pictures:

http://oday.sailboatowners.com/inde...temid=265&pid=8957&page=sshow&mn=23&catid=173

http://oday.sailboatowners.com/inde...temid=265&pid=8956&page=sshow&mn=23&catid=173

It does look like some earlier models had a single cleat that you attach to after your dock lines are routed through bow chocks.

Good luck.

Dave
s/v Lagniappe
O'Day 25

 

[Merlin Clark]

Might be able to rent a right angle drill from your local tool rental or borrow one from a friend if you don't have one and drill up from below. If there isn't room for this I believe Dremel offers an attachment for their rotary tool that does the same and you could use it to drill a pilot hole and then drill the proper size from above.

 

[LANCE ON CLOUD NINE]

if the area has not been repainted, you might be able to take a narrow beam flash light (like the tiny key chain Mag Light) and from inside stick it in the bolt holes of the backing board, and actually see light through the deck. Good luck.