Hello, now that winter is upon us, I am planning on replacing/moving some hardware on our 1984 O'Day 28. Specifically, I plan on removing the single bow horn cleat and replacing it with two horn cleats set off toward each side of the bow. In addition, the previous owner used two sets of horn cleats to tie off the spinnaker and genoa sheets. We are contemplating swapping those out for cam cleats.
A couple of questions.
1) I am planning on using 6 inch cleats in either stainless or aluminum for the bow cleats. Is that the appropriate size & material? The cleats will be used primarily for dock lines, if that isn't obvious.
2)There are no backing plates visible on the current horn cleats, just thru bolts and flat washers. My thought is to add an aluminum backing plate. Is that over kill?
3)Any reason not to swap out the horn cleats for cam cleats on the genoa and spinnaker sheets? Our last boat (a Seidelmann 25) used cam cleats with a fairlead in that application, and they were far easier to use than the horn cleats. The head sail on this boat is much bigger though, and I am a little concerned on the cam cleat holding tension on the working sheet. Any thoughts?
4)What are my options for filling the holes in the deck left by removal of the old hardware? I assume the standard answer is buy some epoxy, mix it up and try and tint it close to the color of the deck? Are there any other options that won't involve a high probability of me spilling epoxy all over the boat, myself and others?
Thanks in advance for any help.
A couple of questions.
1) I am planning on using 6 inch cleats in either stainless or aluminum for the bow cleats. Is that the appropriate size & material? The cleats will be used primarily for dock lines, if that isn't obvious.
2)There are no backing plates visible on the current horn cleats, just thru bolts and flat washers. My thought is to add an aluminum backing plate. Is that over kill?
3)Any reason not to swap out the horn cleats for cam cleats on the genoa and spinnaker sheets? Our last boat (a Seidelmann 25) used cam cleats with a fairlead in that application, and they were far easier to use than the horn cleats. The head sail on this boat is much bigger though, and I am a little concerned on the cam cleat holding tension on the working sheet. Any thoughts?
4)What are my options for filling the holes in the deck left by removal of the old hardware? I assume the standard answer is buy some epoxy, mix it up and try and tint it close to the color of the deck? Are there any other options that won't involve a high probability of me spilling epoxy all over the boat, myself and others?
Thanks in advance for any help.