Classic 19 cleats and tie up questions ?

[Rowch01]

I am currently trying to tighten up some loose ends on my dear old 19, the hull currently has 5 cleats, one single at the head of the bow (anchor cleat) two on the gunwale tops about 5 feet back from the front of the hull and an additional two inboard of the gunwales mounted verticle.

THe two atop of the gunwales and the anchor cleat have become a little loose/ sloppy.

What should I do to re-furbish the cleats holding strength ? I was thinking about trying to install some rectangular stainless steel backing plates and using longer stainless steel machine type bolts thru the bow and gunwales and securing them with stainless washers and locknuts.

My second option would be to pull them out, fill or epoxy the holes from the current hold down hardware in and then re drill into the bow and gunwales ?

What does everyone think would be the best solution. THe boat will be tied to the dock all season and I dont want to have any rip outs or issues.

[thejeepguy87]

If it were me, I would do both. Make sure it is solid with the core materials, and then put in a backing plate to make sure it does not pull through.

[Justin]

Unfortunately the core may be rotten/rotting.

See if you can inject epoxy, and then add backing plates from:

aluminum

g-10 phenolic

SS

[Sailor]

you've gotten good advice. At a bare minimum you need to caulk the heck out of the holes and add a backing plate. A "friend" once used a large piece of wood as a backing plate when "his" gunwales got soft.

[Rowch01]

thanks to all for the responses, yes maybe do both, THe Gunwales structurally are sond, no flex or give at all I just think the cleats on the front of the vessel have been used hard over the years and they have started to loosen up and pull the hardware a little bit.

I have access holes at the bottom of the gunwales were my deck lights are installed so ill see if I can get in there with some material for a backing plate.

[cgmiller]

they molded plywood into certain areas for reinforcement. most of the cleats were only screwed into place. the core may be wet. you could move they cleats to a different spot.

[Rowch01]

Ok cool I will take apart and see if they are wet and if they need to be relocated to a better spot.

[Rowch01]

Ok so a little update , I filled the holes on the front bow with 5200 and drilled 4 new holes and installed a 1/4 stainless backing plate under the front anchor clear and sealed it up well with 4200.

Now I started working on the two side cleats and they are a 50/50 mix up of thru bolt and screw in hardware the two outer holes on each gunwale cleats are screwed directly into the gunwale core and the other two holes closer to the console are they bolted with washers and nuts.

Heres the kicker the on the two outer screw holes there is a fiberglass divider inside of the gunwale blocking me from getting in there with a backing plate.

Should I window it out to run the backing plates or run a 50/50 mix of screw in and they bolt hardware ? I think the thru bolt with backing plates is the better way to go but I have no idea what Im cutting out and how it will affect a 47 year old hull. Please help !! Thanks !!