I pulled too hard on my remote dagger board raising line. As the board rocketed upwards it pulled out the deck-mounted pad eye that the line runs through. The pad eye is attached with two screws. I'd like to fill the holes with something so the scews will bite again. Does anybody have any suggestions for what to use to fill the holes?

Geoff
Boyer Mk IV

p.s. - There is no way to use a backer plate at this location on the deck and I won't pull so hard in the future.

Epoxy thickened with colloidal silica. Contact the builder, if you pulled it out once, you'll do it again.

Sounds like this needs more than a quick fix!

Epoxy one of these:





into each hole. I assume that you have the same thing available in the US?

Are those also known as micro bubbles?

http://www.westsystem.com/ Look on the left under fillers.

Run that through the pad eye? I don't quite follow?

Nooooo

Epoxy that into the deck then re-screw the pad eye into the above.

The only thing I'm familiar with is made of "pot" metal, really just low-grade slag. They are used for hanging pictures from drywall.

I don't think that material would hold up to salt water conditions. Also, the fixture I'm familiar with has a coarse thread in the center, for drywall screws.

What do you normally use these things for?

No, the ones I use are made from some kind of plastic and they don't have a precut thread internally.

I don't know what sort of plastic/nylon? they are made from but I have tested them with epoxy and it does stick.

They are designed for drywalls, but I have used them for fittings on rotomoulded boats (additional toestraps, deckclips to take bungee, spinnaker ratchets). More recently I used them to fit the aft toeloops on the Stealth.

Ok, now I'm on the same page.

You can get a more "freindly" version from an industrial supplier. I think they are redily availabe in stainless. Try this link www.mcmaster.com
If the link doesn't work try www.mcmaster.com and in the search bar type "threaded inserts". There are all kinds you can use. Some are even made to have plastic molded over them.

John, what is that gizmo and where can I get some? I can only find metal ones in the screwfix cat. I did exactly the same thing as Geoff last week and need a solution too. The design is only meant for horizontal operation, but I was falling off the boat, grabbed the centreboard uphaul and pulled the fitting out! It was just screwed through the deck with no backing plate.

Folks,
There was a thread very similar to this a while back where someone wanted to pop rivet to a deck.

Based on the info in that thread I would think the best would be to remove some of the foam core with a bent nail in a drill and then fill the void with a mix of epoxy and microfibre blend injected with a suringe. You will need to oversize the top hole enough suck the broken up foam out(try household vacuum)and to get the tip of the suringe in but this will not matter because the micro fibre is a glue mix (not a filler so it is much stronger)and will bond the inner and outer laminates and hold very securely what ever goes into it. If you don't ever want to remove the fastener it could go in before cure but if you are likely to want to remove it just drill it once cured. It is important that the glue goes in under presure to make sure there are no air bubbles in the laminate hence the need to use a suringe.
To my way of thinking this will give the neatest and strongest sollution.

Regards,
Phill

Colin,

Screwfix Item No. 17481 £3.99 per 100

Although I got mine from Homebase.

See you Friday 2nd!

Thanks John, yep, see you in the bar... <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif" alt="" />