Replacing rope stoppers with clutch

[Dan]

I would like to replace the rope stoppers on my Hunter 22 with a triple rope clutch. I was wondering if anyone has done this before and could give me some hints for mounting the new clutch. It looks to me like the fasteners for the current rope stoppers are hidden behind the fiberglass headliner inside the cabin. Any idea how to get to them or do I need to? Any hints would be greatly appreciated.DanS/V Tequila Rose

 

[Miles]

I'd guess...

That there aren't any nuts inside the headliner. At least on the bigger boats Hunter just uses an metal plate that is sandwiched into the deck. You just need to drill and tap it with threads and then screw the bolts into it. Others might know more about this but personally I'd feel more comfortable with a traditional backing plate/nut/bolt setup... On the other hand I've never heard of anyone having a problem with things ripping out of the deck.

 

[Crazy Dave Condon]

tapping

Should you drill a pilot hole and no metal shavings come out, that means no metal is encapsulated in the deck. The next question is if the inner liner is solid against the deck of cabin top and if so, drill through for the bolt, caulk and use a larger washer when securing the nut. You may want to consider adding an acorn nut to so that if anyone should bump against the bolt, then they will not hit the sharp edge of the protrunign bolt. In the event that the space between the deck and cabin liner is not solid, then you will need to fill the area with for example liquid foam type or something. Another idea is to drill the hole inserting a stailess steel tube the length of the deck space so when the bolt comes through at the other end, you can use a space at the end of the bolt/tube and tighten with the nut. Again, use an acorn nut after installing the regular nut.Crazy Dave Condon

 

[Steve O.]

bedding

When I did this on my boat last fall I found an aluminium plate encapsulated in the deck. I drilled and tapped for machine screws. Most of the force on clutches is lateral shear. The Spinlock model I used warns against using 3M 5200 bedding compound as it will deteriorate the plastic, so check the installation instructions. I used silicon sealant.