Bow eye replacement
 

Any advice before I venture out and replace the bow eye on my v20? I have already purchased the new bow eye and I am also replacing the steel piece on the inside that the eye bolts go thru (as well as the long bolt that runs up to the bow pulpit). In case anyone is wondering where I got a new one, I took the old one to a steel fabricator here in Fort Lauderdale and they're making me a new one out of 1/8'' stainless steel. I'll have it in hand later this week, ready to install this weekend.

Any advice on how to actually remove the old one and put the new one in,while on the trailer? I surely dont want the boat to slide off the back... I am guessing lower the front of the trailer so the weight is towards the front. The actual replacement seems pretty straight forward... oh yea, should I use some 3m 5200 when installing the new one?

Any tips are appreciated!

Unless you'e parked on a hill pushing your boat back a few inches should be okay. Loosen your belly strap, keep the boat hooked to the winch, back off a turn or so with the winch, use a jack, 2x4, pretty much anything to push the boat rearward. Position the boat where you want it and have enough space to slide the old and new eyebolts out and in. Common sense rules. Tighten the belly strap, change the bow eye. Yes, use 5200 on the new one. Coat everything inside the hole, push the bow eye through and coat the last inch or so of the bow eye before you "bed" it against the hull so that there's a 100% sealed hole. Once everything is installed and tightened put the winch cable back on the new eye, loosen the belly strap, crank the boat "home" on the trailer. tighten the strap, loosen the winch. attach your safety cable and then let everything dry for a day or more, depending on what 5200 you used (fast cure or regular). Bam, you're done.

Thanks for your extremely detailed reply man! Very helpful.

In case anyone is wondering what the fabricated piece of steel looks like compared to the old one.

What is that for . I just have a bow eye two bolts washers and a backing plate easy to change, the transom straps hold the boat in place while you loosen the bow strap or cable depending on what you have

That goes on the inside and bolts go thru it. The hole on top is for a 2foot bolt that runs down from the bow pulpit to stabilize it. Without it, the bow pulpit is pretty loose and I could see it snapping with too much weight on it.

The ones with the long bolt or allthread were designed to be a "lifting" eye. The cleat on the bow had a loop in it to put a cable through. This tied the keel to the cap. We had a Starcraft that came that way. One hook on the bow and two on the transom.

Never did trust it

Wow man... This is what i love about this board. Thanks for the info - I knew it was called that, but did not know what it was for. I honestly thought it was there to stabilize the bow pulpit - that may not be the main reason, but it does make the bow pulpit real solid. You learn something very day!

Might be easier to loosen the winch stand & ease it forward, replace the eye & slide it back.

As long as you have the room to do it that's a K.I.S.S. solution. I LOVE it!! Nice!!! :clap: