Loose bow eye where winch connects

[Ward H]

My Newport 17 has only been off the trailer once, for a trial sale, since I bought it.
Now I am getting it ready for the season and I noticed that the bow eye had been winched hard into and under the V roller of the bow support. It looked like the eye might have been pulled away from the boat just enough to be a little loose.

I unhooked the winch strap and safety chain pushed the boat back a bit. The Eye is loose but there is no damage to the fiberglass.

From inside the cabin that area is walled of so I can not see what needs to be done to fix it. I imagine that I have to cut an access hole in the wall to reach the nuts to tighten the eye?

With it being a little loose, is it in danger of pulling through? I was planning on taking it to a local late, putting it next to the dock so the wife can get in the boat and see how it feels. (can't take it out yet due to I need the safe boating course and a motor.)
Is there a danger the eye will pull through when I winch the boat back on?

Thanks

Ward

 

[Chris Burti]

Ward,
My recollection is a bit rusty, but as I recall the our N-17 was fairly well constructed which would suggest either a large washer or even a backing plate behind the nut...so loose, while not good is not terribly bad if you don't delay repairing it.

Take your safe boating course, buy a six foot paddle and go sailing. While nice, an engine is not a necessity for an N-17. We sailed ours without one when the engine was in the shop.

The boat performs very well in light air and is stiff enough in heavy.

One nice touch that Gloucester included was a roller reefing boom on the main. The boat is fairly stiff with the steel centerboard and if you get caught out in a blow, you can make pretty good progress (even upwind) by reefing the main down a bit.

 

[Ward H]

HeHe, so that's what those paddles are for.

I am going with your advice on a 4HP long shft motor. Your right, I don't need it to get started but I have a few weeks before my class so I am going over things now and cleanning it up a bit. The second owner bought it, sailed it once, then let it sit uncovered under trees for 4 years.

Chris, do you remember problems wiith the fiberglass cracking where the mast foot plate bolts on? One of the three bolts is loose due to the fireglass cracking a bit.

I have Youngs Fiberglass in Marmora, NJ giving me quote on fixing that, some fine cracks around the motor mount and I will have them look at the front bow eye.

Thanks much,

Ward

 

[RedRex]

Hi Ward,
I own one of these little beasties. One of the pos hacked his way into the bow cavity to wire up some nav lights so I crawled in there to look things over. The u bolt has a ss backing plate about a half inch wide and perhaps two inches long that lays against the inner bow. The glass is an inch thick or better so I don't think you'll be pulling the bolt out any time soon. However, the forestay chainplate ties into the upper bolt and is secured by the same nut,so that would require further examination.
I sailed Barnegat Bay for some years in a 25 foot two tonner, and if I were to sail my newport there I would go with a six horse two stroke against the day the wind comes up unobstructed from Great Bay and kicks up a chop and a nasty current. Also with that low freeboard keep foul weather gear aboard against getting soaked.

Fair winds and hope this helps,
Red

 

[watercolors II]

The cause

The cause of this loose bow eye is that most trailer sailors think they can winch a sailboat onto a trailer just like the power boaters do. A powerboat bottom is flat and the trailer bunks are straight allowing all the weight of the boat to be evenly distributed on the bunks but, a sailboat’s bottom is far from flat and the friction of trying to slide that bottom on curved bunks is too great for the trailer winch and as you have noticed the bow eye also.

I can still buy replacement parts for may Catalina 22 and the replacement bow eye use to come with a backing plate much larger than the factory installation, and now a newer replacement is even larger!

Sailboats must be floated onto their trailers. You must get your trailer deep into the water so that you’re only winching it about 2 to 3 feet out of the water. My 25 year old boat’s bow eye has never been touched since the factory, I only winch it the last 18 inches.

 

[Sail123]

Put some Dawn dish washing liquid on the trailer pads. That makes them slippery when moving the boat on the pads.

Once the boat is removed from the water, if the boat is not set tight in the trailer, in the parking lot by the ramp, at a slow speed, brake quickly, that will move the boat forward. Once forward, tighten up the wench.

 

[Benny17441]

That is the reason why a sailing boat should not be winched up to a trailer but rather floated on. The bow eye can be used with the strap to help guide the boat and once in the trailer it can be used to secure the boat for travel. Right now your biggest problem would be water intrusion. Boat manufacturers do not usually utilize backing plates for the bow eye as perhaps it would be easier to fix a couple of small holes than a large chunk off the bow. To repair you need to be able to get to the bolts and nuts inside the hull. I would remove it and clean the old sealing material and apply new sealer and retighten the eye. If the bolts pushed through pretty much then I would use some soft washers and then tighten.

 

[Crazy Dave Condon]

Ward;

Before you do anything, see u bolt has a metal strap with nuts on the outside before the threaded rods go into the bow. If so, all you need to do is tighten and you are done as many are that way. If not, then second solution is going inside following the advice of others on this thread.

crazy dave condon

 

[Doug L]

Hi Ward. My experience with bow eyes, and loading the trailer are somewhat different than listed so far. The bow eyes on the boats that I have owned, at least the ones that were visible, had a V shaped hardwood block on the inside of the boat. If your bow eye is loose, I suspect the hardwood block has either shrunk or rotted. I believe you will need to cut an access hole. Put in a screw in access port, it will look like it belongs there. You probably willhave to cut and shape a new wooden block to fit the bow of the boat and the eye. As to loading the boat on the trailer, I have owned 4 boats, and of the three that have made it into the water (current is a work in progress) all 3 required getting the boat on the trailer, and using the brakes to make a sudden stop to move the boat against the post on the trailer. You can bet a lot of pull on the bow eye was involved. I never pulled one loose, if any were loose, it was because of shrinkage or rot of the backing block. I have never owned a boat I could float up to the winch on the trailer, all have required loading the boat, and using the brakes to move the boat forward.

 

[Ward H]

Lots of good info! Sounds like I can fix it myself.
Lowes sells access panels that can be cut into sheet rock for access to plumbing. I can probably use the same thing.
The eye does not have nuts on the outside, just a plate that goes against the hull.
I'll open it up and see what I got inside and go from there. I got some butyl tape coming from Main Sail for seating the outside plate, among other things.

Red, Are you familar with the Barnegat Sailing School? I was thinking about getting some lessons from them.
I was planning on a 4HP Tohatsu. I will consider your suggestion of moving up to a 6HP but either will be a 4 stroke and I understand it should be a long shaft.

Best Regards,

Ward

 

[Chris Burti]

The 4 hp will be plenty and the six may be a bit heavy on the transom. A 4 hp will push the N17 handily into 20+ knot winds if you get caught out (from experience) I am not sure how it may performa agianst tide runs as we don't have much to deal with.

Spider cracking in the gelcoat at stress points is normal for a boat that vintage, but I would be most concerned about the loose mast plate bolt. That suggests to me that there might be damage to a plywood core..either from rot or simply crushing. That should require careful checking.

 

[Ward H]

Chris, a little bit ago I found the Newport 17 manual on line. Interesting that they have a special note that says "There are a pair of holes for an additional pin on the forward end of the mast hinge plate, we do not want a second pin inserted through these holes when the mast is up."
Sounds like they want the mast to be able to swing back slightly against the front stay when tightening the mainsheet.
Mine came with a pin in the front holes and when the po showed me how to rig it, he used the front pin to secure the mast.
I am now thinking that maybe with the second pin attached, if the forestay was not adjusted just right, the mast was too securely attached to the hinge plate and if allowed to tilt back a bit, it slowly "bent" the mast hinge plate back and crunched the rear corners. This allowed the bolt to come loose.
Boat is scheduled for evaluation and necessary repairs of the hinge plate area and motor mount area by the fiberglass repair shop. (They specialize in boat repairs)
Went with the 4HP /Tohatsu. Can always upgrade the carb for 6hp if needed.

When it comes back from the shop, I will fix the bow eyelet and she will be ready to go!

 

[Chris Burti]

I did not use the front pin position while sailing...it just didn't seem like a good idea to me. However, if you are putting the mast up solo, using it will 'hold' the mast up in place while you get the forestay pinned. After a few launchings, I got pretty good at holding tension on the stay while attaching it and quit using the pin.

 

[Ward H]

I opened up the front wall so I could see the inside of the bow eye connection. Fore stay chain plate does come through the deck and bolts to the top bolt of the bow eye. Under that is a plate about an 1" wide and about a 1/2" longer than the span of the bow eye bolts. It appears only the bottom bolt is loose. The fiberglass did not appear damaged. The backing plate might be bent a bit. No washer behind the bottom nut, which is more rusted than the photo shows.
I think I can get the nut off, put on one or move washers and install a new SS nut. That should do it.

I attached a photo of the backing plate and one of the access panel I installed.

 

[Tony D. Woodpussy]

I had the same problem on my 12' Skimmar, (restoration in progress on this forum) however the eye was completely pulled through the stem. I opened a 4" port in the bulkhead and pulled a new fitting through the hole which was enlarged so the fitting would go thru the hole from the inside-out (pulled with a string). I pre-installed a backing block on the fitting and smeared it well with Marine Tex before I pulled it through. then I held it in place with the trailer winch shackle until the Marine Tex cured. A repair with formula 27 made the job look just fine and it should be stronger by far then the original installation.