Last Friday one of my bowsprit stays was ripped out of the hulls (see image). Originally I used 2-component epoxy filler to fix them in the hulls. It worked fine for 4 years of sailing.
I am now thinking to use an aluminium plate to distribute the load over a larger area. My main concern, however, is that the hulls might not carry the load and that it will break again making a considerably larger hole.
Any other ideas how to fix that problem ?

Thanks
Ceitzi

I think an internal metal plate is exactly what you need to fix the problem. The larger the better.

Would driling small holes in the plate allow for better attachment to the underlying glass?

I'm thinking the epoxy would seep through the holes and allow for a link between the fiberglass on the lower and upper sides of the plate, further anchoring it in place...

What hull and vintage is that? Marstrøm? 90's?


I have seen two ways to retrofit a Tornado for a bowsprit, both almost at the tip and not as far back as your boat:

1: Drill a somewhat large diameter hole (35mm?), and fill the drilled hullsection with thickened epoxy. Make sure you fill a large area inside the hulls to distribute the load (squeeze the epoxy in there while the other side of the hull is taped over, repeat!). I would do this while the hulls are upside down and stern raised, like on the trailer. When the epoxy hardens, drill a new small diameter hole trough the epoxy for the bowsprit stay-line. Round off all sharp edges..

2: Use a fitting like you did, but follow the procedure above. The plate goes on the outside (far side) of the hull, but embedded it in the epoxy so it's mostly fair.

Your backing plate does not resemble what I have seen earlier. The plates I have seen are circular, with the hole for the bolt in the middle. Without knowing how you fitted the backing plate in the hull, I think you would do better with the hole for the bolt in the middle.
If you get a circular backing plate, and do the epoxy procedure, the whole bow will have to break off before the fitting rips out.

If you want to get more ideas how to fix this, I suggest you post the same question on the TornadoCat forum at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TornadoCat/
There are lots of Tornado expertice there..

It is a '97 Marstrøm.

Thanks for all the advice. Actually, I do not want to drill a hole through both sides of the hull. I would try to complete the whole operation just from on side. This also also explains the somewhat strange shape of the plate; it is the largest plate that fits through the existing hole.

I assume that the new Marstrøm boats are already equipped with such a (or a similar) fitting. Does anybody know how these are attached to the hull ?

Thanks
Ceitzi

You will need to heavily reinforce a large area if you want to use the same hole. Preferably, the reinforcement should be bonded to the deck as well.. It looks like a tricky job to do with the small hole you have to work trough.
I would have made a glass-fitting instead of the metal one, and glued it to the reinforcement if I wanted the fitting as far back as you have it.


New boats come with a similar fitting as you have, at the bow-tip. I dont remember if they went all the way trough, but I dont think so. Gøran probably reinforces the bow a bit, and glue the backingplate in place before he put on the deck.
Retrofitted boats have gone all the way trough, and you can buy the fittings for this from Marstrøm and his dealers. It really doesn't look that bad when faired and painted.

The easiest way to fix this, in my opinion, is to fill the existing hole, fair and paint. Then move the fitting to the bowtip where it's easier to reinforce the inside of the hull by just using thickened epoxy.

I agree with Rolf. The sides of the Marstroms are not strong enough to handle the loads unless the plate is big (10x15 cm at a guess. The bow is much stronger.

I drilled though both gunwhales, just beheath the deck. I epoxied in place, a segment of "G-10" fiberglass tube through these holes. I then ran some Amsteel line through the tube and applied a stainless steel washer on the outside gunwhale to deck corner to carry the majority of the load.

I was careful to run the glass tube relatively in-line with the direction of the pulling force.


GARY