Bow & Stern cleats

[Phoenix-UK]

Hi,
Can anyone help? We sail a Hunter 30T (1990) in the United Kingdom and i have always felt that the bow and stern cleats are on the small size for the boat. I have been looking at how they are attached and it appears they are bolted through the toe rail and secured with locknuts under the rail. I have removed the x2 locknuts on a cleat but the cleat will not lift off. Are the bolt threads glued or epoxied as they pass through the deck/rail? Has anyone replaced or removed cleats from similar Hunters and could give advice.

Great knowledge base by the way! and i love the American Hunter Boat designs

Cheers
Shaun.

 

[Warren Milberg]

I think it's safe to assume that even Hunter used some form of polyurethane or polysulfide caulking in setting the cleats. You may want to try running a thin bladed putty knife or hacksaw blade under the cleats to break this seal, or buy some deBond 2000 and give that a try. It's good stuff and won't harm your gelcoat.

http://store.hamiltonmarine.com/bro...marine-formula-remover----167283/4,29255.html

 

[Bill1565]

Barbarian that I am, I pry stuff up with putty knives, screw drivers and pry bars. If it doesn't work go bigger. When you replace with larger cleats, use backing plates or at least fender washers.

 

[Ed Schenck]

Are these the cleats with exposed bolt heads? If not then they were not screwed in but pressed in. And they should pull(pry) out. I assume the bolt heads are not exposed or you could turn them and see if they back out.

 

[Guest]

Cleats

Hi Shaun, why Hunter built our 1991 P42 with only a bow and stern cleat is a mystery to me. So, when we took possession in 2002 and after a few monkey drills trying to dock this beast, I decided to add midship cleats.

Our model has the traditional aluminum toe rail like yours. I suspect it is a simple matter of ordering larger cleats from Hunter Marine and install them yourself like I did.

In 2003 I ordered two ten inch closed cleats from Hunter Marine for $35 each just like the originals. Hunter Service said that the toe rail will support a midship cleat. In fact they added these to later models as standard equipment.

Received the SS cleats (originals were aluminum), cut a section out of the vertical part of the toe rail to match the bow and stern cleat cut outs. Bolted the new cleats right into place, but did have to enlarge the existing holes a bit. Let me tell you it makes solo docking a breeze compared to before, which was the same as watching a one armed paper hanger.

So, since I solo most of the time, as I approach the dock the side tie gate is open, the boarding step is in place with a dock line eye ready on the mid ship cleat and the fenders hung on either side of the mid ship cleat. When the boat kisses the dock I step onto the dock and secure the mid ship line first. After the boat settles down, which it will, I secure the other lines.

Check out the project pictures in the Hunter Owner Modifications above, then 42. The finished project looks and performs as original. It has been seven years and several thousand miles since then and it has made a huge difference in solo boat handling.

Ed or Warren's advice regarding removing the old cleats makes sense to me. They should just lift off with some effort.

Terry Cox

 

[Phoenix-UK]

Thanks Terry,

Your mid ship cleat install looks very neat. The bolts do have an exposed head (like yours) so i am going to see if i can wind them out this weekend. It's just when i took the locknuts off and looked at the end of the bolt there was no obvious hole! almost as if the bolt had been threaded down through the hull join and toe rail. So i was wondering if the bolts were fitted with a sealant or adhesive to fill the gap around the thread. Hopefully they will wind out but they have been in there 20 years! and it's always the simple jobs that snowball

Shaun.