H23 headstay attachment plate loose?

[donavansails]

I was doing some work on my Hunter 23 today and the plate that the forestay attaches to seems to be loose in the anchor well. I've only had this boat for a short period, but don't remember it being loose before. When I pull it up and forward, it seems to lock into place. Not sure how this plate is fastened between the two fiberglass hulls. One being the anchor wall, and the other the outside bow. The only way I can see to check if it's something bent or loose, would be cutting a hole somewhere in the fiberglass. Is this typical? Any help would be appreciated.
Donavan

 

[MrUnix]

I'm not sure how exactly that plate is secured, but I always thought it was in conjunction with the bow eye.. is your bow eye or the nuts below the plate loose?

Cheers,
Brad

Edit: I just checked the write-up by Mark Major when he did his deck removal.. and he noted that the bow eye (which is actually a U-bolt) "doubles as a fastener for the forestay plate which in turn is fastened to the underside of the anchor locker". So that is where I would start to look for a problem. Mark could probably give you a better idea of what to look for, but unfortunately he hasn't been around much lately and his last post was about a year ago.

 

[Brian M H23]

Mine is always loose too. I had the bow eye out once and it seemed to be related, but I never quite figured out how that forestay was held in.

Quote Crazy Dave: "The bow eye is separate from the chain plate and usually has a backing plate inside to distribute the load accessible by removing the front panel in the V berth."

 

[carboman]

I had my bow eye out last summer. It had come very lose so that was on the list. When it was out, I made a new plate out of some very thick aluminum, bolted in the original bow eye and epoxied it in. I would not do the epoxy again as it will be tough to ever take it out. While it was out, all I could see was the fiberglass layer from inside the Vberth under the anchor locker, original glass from the factory. When I got the boat, the original backing plate had been replaced with some piece of steel that rusted and broke in half. Main reason I made a new one.

 

[Crazy Dave Condon]

You have to remove the forward plate in the V berth to access the nuts for either the bow eye and the forestay chain plate. That plate is screwed into place and may be tight so carefully use a prong or screwdriver to help it along. check the backing plates and if rusted badly or broken, replace but do not glass in. Make sure it is big enough to distribute the load and please caulk liberally. If the backing plate is just plain steel, I bet you that it was replaced as Hunter would not have done that based on what I saw during my years as a dealer.

crazy dave condon