drilling into fiberglass? thinking of making a modification.

fuseitinthesun · Post by **fuseitinthesun** » Sat Jul 31, 2010 9:49 am

Hey all. I'm sailing a LS-13. So, after reading up on sailing theory and doing a few experiments on Thursday with repositioning the jib sheet simply by pulling it around with my hand, I figured out that I'd be a lot better off if my jib sheets went through the blocks further forward. My boat came with some sort of weird, non-standard (I'm pretty sure) genoa so that the leech is not a straight line, but has this weird bend and point in it. Kind of hard to describe, but I'm sure some of you old pros know what I'm talking about. Because of the weird shape, it's constantly luffing, even when trimmed correctly. I feel like a longer batten would also fix this problem, but that's a whole different project. Anyway, what should I know about installing new hardware along the gunwales? I don't want to accidentally turn my boat into soft putty.

Thanks,
-John

EmergencyExit · Post by **EmergencyExit** » Sat Jul 31, 2010 12:59 pm

If it's something that's going to take some stress (and a fairlead for a sheet might) the problem becomes how to back it on the other side of the fiberglass with a washer, plate, etc.

If you can't get into the hull physically you'll wind up cutting an access port. Which winds up being a big hole in the structure so you can put a washer behind the little hole you want to drill for the hardware...that being said my Coronado 15 has a couple of access ports where someone wanted to get at the shroud chain plates to back them better, and it doesn't seem to have hurt anything.

fuseitinthesun · Post by **fuseitinthesun** » Sat Jul 31, 2010 1:07 pm

hmm, ok. I'll have to take a look next time I'm at the boat and see what's on the other side.. My vague impression is that the place on the gunwale that I would do this at is more or less solid... because it's right at the edge of the boat. If that is in fact the case, is there a marine-grade adhesive that I should set screws with?

sharps4590 · Post by **sharps4590** » Sat Jul 31, 2010 5:19 pm

What EE said was it needs to be thru-bolted, with a washer, lock washer and nut on the off side. Don't screw it down, bolt it. Epoxy is anything grade.

Bhacurly · Post by **Bhacurly** » Sat Jul 31, 2010 10:49 pm

Maybe you could put in a track & car so it's more adjsutable??