Association Forum - Hurricane preps: How strong is the bow eye?

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Hurricane preps: How strong is the bow eye?

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TakeFive
Master Marine Consultant

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2272 Posts

Initially Posted - 08/26/2011 : 19:25:17

I'm really concerned about the wimpy nylon cleats on my C250. It's too late to change them out, so I want to use the bow eye as my primary attachment point in front. I've looped two 1/2" lines through it (port & starboard), both with snubbers.

It seems that the bow eye is a lot thicker steel than the two cleat screws would be, and it's bolted through the thickest fiberglass on the entire boat. SO I would expect it to be very strong. And it would cause much less chafe than using the eyebolt in the anchor locker, where routing the lines out of the locker would cause a lot of stress.

Does this thinking make sense for my primary bow lines? I'll still put secondary lines on the cleats, but they'll be thinner and looser, so they will only pull if the snubbers reach their full stretch.

Rick S., Swarthmore, PA
PO of Take Five, 1998 Catalina 250WK #348 (relocated to Baltimore's Inner Harbor)
New owner of 2001 Catalina 34MkII #1535 Breakin' Away (at Rock Hall Landing Marina)

Edited by - TakeFive on 08/26/2011 21:27:12

joelterry
Deckhand

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16 Posts

Response Posted - 08/28/2011 : 09:41:14

a this point it may be a little late, my boat is on a mooring in the swresbury and I put the pendants around the bow cleats (they are two thick to go through) with a secondary lines through the cleats and two lines tied to the bow bolt. I'll let you know the outcome.

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willy
Captain

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USA
422 Posts

Response Posted - 08/29/2011 : 17:00:06

Rick, Hopefully you had no trouble and in fact benefited from a "topside powerwash" from Irene. I am surprised your boat came with nylon cleats as mine came from the factory with stainless. They are still a tad small and require some creative technique to put both bow lines and spring lines on them. Living at the Delaware shore, I didn't take any chances and pulled my boat and stored it about 5 miles inland.(relaunched today) I did have one problem and it's my own fault for being lazy. When I dropped my mast I used my topping lift to put my boom parallel with the mast and lashed them together. The wind down here was pretty incredible as it actually twisted the bracket that holds my boom to the mast like a pretzel. A look at it will show you it's a pretty formidable piece of hardware so I am amazed. Ken at Catalina is looking for a replacement for me but hasn't been able to dig one up so far. Ugh! Learned my lesson!
Willy

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TakeFive
Master Marine Consultant

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2272 Posts

Response Posted - 08/29/2011 : 20:08:51

Thanks for your comments. The boat did fine. Philly airport (right next to the marina) recorded the highest sustained wind at 39 mph, and maximum gust at 52. Much less than feared, which is a good thing. We had a thunderstorm last year that reached 71 mph, so the boat has seen much worse.

It's clear that the bow eye is incredibly strong for a pendant on a mooring. What I didn't make completely clear is that the forces on the bow eye were going to be lateral due to the stern-in docking and short finger piers. But it was more than strong enough for the winds the boat saw.

Edited by - TakeFive on 08/29/2011 20:10:39

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Notice: The advice given on this site is based upon individual or quoted experience, yours may differ.
The Officers, Staff and members of this site only provide information based upon the concept that anyone utilizing this information does so at their own risk and holds harmless all contributors to this site.