Strength issues
Lou, I am no fiberglass expert either so I may be off base here, but hopefully my structural engineering background means something. There are two main forces imposed on the deck by a winch - the bolts wanting to pull out (tension on the bolts) as well as shear, which is a force perpendicular to the bolt shaft which is resolved by the bolt bearing on the fiberglass bolt hole edge. If you have to drill new holes, the deck is weakened by the remaining holes. I would think that a good epoxy job on the holes is definitely required. As for a backing plate, you may or may not need one as the actual load imparted to the deck shouldn't be any greater. In fact, if the winch is larger, the pullout load may be decreased relative to your old winches. I am sure the deck is reinforced in the area of the winches, so you should check to see if the reinforced area extends beyond the new bolt pattern. If not, a backing plate may be in order. You might want to run this by Greg Emerson at Hunter regardless. Hope my babbling is of some good! Kirk
