G'day have taken over the finishing of some new Mozzy hulls for my daughter. The current layout was designed for the old angle brackets that screw onto the exterior of the hull. I'd like to keep this looking modern for her and was wondering if anybody had done this conversion. The hulls are still bare timber so putting access holes is no problem, would it weaken the hull to put chainplates on the inside at this stage? Would it be more practical to drill holes through and put eye bolts in with angled reinforcing on the inside?

Hi Jeff,

By 'Bow Tangs' I assume you mean the chainplates for the forestay bridle?

The chainplates are usually mounted on the forward side of a bulkhead in this location, and bolted through the bulkhead (the chainplate is usually on the side closest to the front tip of the hulls).

There must be a bulkhead of some description in this location, as the angled chainplates would be bolted into something other than just the hull ply. I do not think it would be a good idea to try and mount it to the inside of the hull, there is a lot of force on the chainplates with the rig up and even with re-inforcement, it would most likely break through the ply without much effort.

I currently have the deck off my mosquito, and have replaced both of the bulkheads in this location. If you want to see how the chainplates are mounted, I can take some photos?

If you REALLY wanted to change this, you would need to cut the deck above the bulkhead, find a way to mount the chainplates so that the protrude to hull in the correct spot (unless it is in the right spot), cut a hole in the bull, mount the chainplates, fix the hole in the deck you made and then seal the hole around the chainplates after you have painted. Whilst it can be done, its a lot of work to fix something that still works.

I may be completely wrong about this (im learning as I go), so might be worth waiting till someone with more experience comments.

Regards,
Andrew

Sent you a PM with email address offering photos and instructions. Leave a message in this section if you do not receive it.

Thanks for the reply Andrew the area where the tangs are mounted is reinforced to accept screws. I'm thinking I will cut the holes on the inside of the hulls as it will be easier to blend in the repairs there, I was considering reinforcing with a few layers of carbon before mounting the tangs as the spinnaker will add extra load there as well. Thanks Phill I've sent you an pm back and looking forward to your reply.

Hi there,

Had to rebuild my bridle mounts as they pulled out.
Timber hulls, there were no thickeners on my bulkheads inside, the bridle plate screws just went into the ply hull, no wonder it pulled out.

Took a section of deck off above the bulkhead.
I glued and screwed a cedar block to the front face of the internal bulkhead.
Inserted a ring bolt into the cedar block at an angle to come out at the edge of the deck similar to where the glass boats have theirs.

Replaced deck and glassed in.

Was pretty straightforward once I committed to cutting a hole in the deck.

I'll see if I have some pics of the work at home later.