Picked up a 21SE in pretty good shape but the wings have been modified to attach similar to an H18. The pivot location are good but I'd like to find a better way to mount to the gunwale. Right now it is just a tapped hole, I assume they must have filled with epoxy and then drilled and tapped, it does hold the threads fairly well but I'm afraid it will pull out especially if I run spin off the wing mounted blocks.
I could bend up some brackets no problem but how do I attach to the side of hull without access to inside? I'm afraid if I use a blind rivet it will eventually pull through without a backing washer. Maybe drill through and pull a bolt through using string?
Anyone have suggestions?
Edited by car_guy on May 02, 2019 - 03:39 PM.
Fixed pictures
The layup on the hulls is pretty thin. Well, to be more accurate, each side of the foam sandwich is thin. They aren't really meant to take point loads. The decks are the only thing with some meat, besides the centerboard wells. I wouldn't mount anything to the sides. It's all about distributing the load as you've guessed. The original wing sockets have the stresses speed out, and I'm guessing the spinnaker load is still being mostly carried by the deck. I don't recall off hand if there's room, but other Hobies use a cross threaded, short section of stainless rod under the lip to carry some loads...that might a good option.
Hey it's another CT cat sailor. Congrats on the new boat. Where do you sail?
Depending on the size of that bolt, the design you have there is really not much different from the Hobie 18 magnum/SX wing design. The support strut on the 18 wings is only held to the hull using a single 1/4” pin/bolt. I would say if what you have there now is secure, it’s probably ok. Only other immediate thought would be to use stainless steel sheet metal screws to attach that “foot” piece to the hull. The hull flange in that area is solid fiberglass so should give a pretty strong attachment. The only issue would be if you’re installing and removing the screws a lot, the threads could start to wear out.
Otherwise, I think you’d be looking at installing an access port to thru bolt the plate some way like you mentioned. I think I’d just stick with what’s there for now.
sm
Steve M.
Hey it's another CT cat sailor. Congrats on the new boat. Where do you sail?
It seems the bolts used for the wings are threaded into the forward beam sleeve. This seems like a sufficiently strong attachment for the wing support, I’m going to leave it as is for the time being.
I mostly would sail my H18 out of New Haven from lighthouse point park. With the 21 I plan to leave it a marina in Noank.