Cleats for perforated toe rail

uncledom · Oct 26, 2015

I had that cleat on my Hunter 25.5 and it's on my friends Tartan 31 that we race on Wednesday nights. Not flimsy, simple. It works well and is very easy to mount and use. I worry it will tear the toe rail off, not that it will fail.

woodster · Oct 26, 2015

That is exactly the one I am looking at and I am thinking since it for the spring line it will do just fine it is mounted with a 3/8 bolt

Ron20324 · Oct 26, 2015

I had that same situation on my B323. I raft everyother weekend, so really needed that mid-ship cleat. I got 2 OEMs and bolted them to the deck. /// Otherwise, i've seen cleats thru-bolted to the toerail with a slab of wood on each side of the toerail for reinforcement. Another way would be to use one or two pieces of genoa track to sandwich the toerail in whatever length you think you'd be comfortable with. /// You could bolt a cleat vertically to a pice of wood, which would then be bolted horizontally to the toerail when needed.

Dalliance · Oct 26, 2015

I've been using exactly that mid-ship cleat with my single-handed docking spring line for about four years now. Surprisingly sturdy. No problems. However, I do not use it for my long term dock spring lines. They are attached to a mid-dock cleat and run forward to a bow cleat and aft to my genoa winch. The reason being that the fold down toe-rail cleat is attached with a single bolt and nut which does allow it to move (rotate) a bit on the toe-rail and I fear that back and forth movement of the boat could loosen the nut (even a lock nut) over time with long term docking. So, IMO: Great for short term use - coming into dock on a springlike or rafting up for an afternoon. Not the best choice for long term docking.

DougM · Oct 27, 2015

I have those cleats on the toe rail of my B323. They are quite substantial. They have served me well for spring line attachment for a number of years. I really haven't had a problem with movement due to the boat surging. The toe rail itself is strong enough and because it is through bolted in several places along its length it helps to spread out the load. There is is a rubber spacer that folds over the top of the toe rail and extends over the bolt hole and that also dampens the shock load slightly.

Benny17441 · Oct 27, 2015

Years ago took an "L" 1/4 "steel brace, cut a piece around 5" long, inverted it and drilled some holes to attach to the inside of the rail on one side and drilled other holes to fit a cleat down on the other side. Smoothed the edges and painted it black for rust protection and to blend in with the rail. It was fit in an h27 right behind the starboard shrouds which afforded protection from stubbing the toes. Only needed one side. Survived a couple of hurricanes and plenty of foul weather being used for spring lines.

Ken Cross · Oct 27, 2015

Another option
They make cleats that attach to genoa tracks.

Ken

Terry Cox · Oct 27, 2015

The link below explains what I did when it came time to add midship cleats to our boat. That was over ten years ago and remain as strong as the original bow and stern cleats.

http://hunter.sailboatowners.com/mods.php?task=article&mid=45&aid=7556&mn=42

Ken Cross · Oct 27, 2015

Terry Cox said:
The link below explains what I did when it came time to add midship cleats to our boat. That was over ten years ago and remain as strong as the original bow and stern cleats.

http://hunter.sailboatowners.com/mods.php?task=article&mid=45&aid=7556&mn=42

Wow, nice installation. Did you need to treat the toe rail with alodyne or some other stuff to prevent corrosion ???

FastOlson · Oct 27, 2015

SFS said:
My H31 has a very nice perforated toe rail, and I really want some mid-ship cleats. Has anyone found a cleat that mounts to a perforated toe rail? My searching has only yielded this one, and it looks pretty flimsy:

http://www.defender.com/product3.jsp?path=-1|2259971|2709020&id=80333

I'd like to find something more substantial, and would prefer to stay away from track mounted, unless I have no options.

As others have pointed out the C. Sherman Johnson cleats are well engineered and strong. We have been using them on the perf. toe rails on our boat for almost a decade. Good product. They make this in a track mounted model and a deck mounted model as well.
Actually, I have never seen anything from this vendor that was flimsy.

Loren

joker460 · Oct 27, 2015

I use this type. See Picture. I don't have a side view. I also use one as a midships cleat.https://www.svb24.com/en/wichard-toe-rail-pad-eye.html

Terry Cox · Oct 28, 2015

Ken Cross said:
Wow, nice installation. Did you need to treat the toe rail with alodyne or some other stuff to prevent corrosion ???

Hi Ken, no treatment needed as of yet. No evidence of any corrosion either and that has been more than ten years ago. Maybe someday.

Hunter Marine Customer Service advised me at the time that the toe rail is especially strong and would be the best solution for a mid ship cleat. I wanted something at least as strong as the bow and stern cleat as it would be the first and last point of release from the dock.

Ken Cross · Oct 30, 2015

Awesome, thanks

Ken

Terry Cox · Oct 30, 2015

Hi Ken, you are most welcome.

Two long-time Everett sailors you may know, Bob Barker (still in Everett) and John Lund (moved to Anacortes). We meet every Wednesday evening at Scuttlebutts' for Skipper's night. Usually start during happy hour with open topics of interest. Come join us if you want. Always a hoot.

Dave Groshong · Oct 30, 2015

That cleat is actually rugged, not flimsy, we offer it here as well:

http://shop.sailboatowners.com/prod.php?54901

wufibugs · Oct 30, 2015

Terry, that is great installation. On either side of the cleat and into the toe rail you have what looks the the head of a stove bolt. What are they?

Terry Cox · Oct 31, 2015

wufibugs said:
Terry, that is great installation. On either side of the cleat and into the toe rail you have what looks the the head of a stove bolt. What are they?

Hi Richard, those are the carriage bolts that are part of the deck-hull joint that secures the aluminum toe rail. They are spaced about every six inches for the length of the boat's deck-hull joint.

wufibugs · Oct 31, 2015

Oh, OK. The H31 used countersunk flush mounted phillips head bolts.

Terry Cox · Oct 31, 2015

No idea why Hunter used different fasteners. Plenty strong though. And no idea why they built the boat without a midship cleat. As a solo sailor, near impossible without them. A breeze with them.

Cleats for perforated toe rail

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