Part Wanted Bow Eye

DanOStarcraft · Aug 18, 2024

Hello all. The bow eye on my 1959 Starcraft is not secure. The bolt that goes through to the block of wood is rusted and I can't tighten or loosen the bolt on the inside. I've crawled all the way forward and it won't turn. I can wiggle the eye around pretty easily. I can't seem to find anywhere a replacement bow eye of this design to just swap them out. I thought about trying to find a welder to weld it to the boat but I really want a new bolt I could trust and a larger backing block on the inside as well. Any suggestions on where one could be found? Or....perhaps....does anybody have one? (Fingers crossed....)

Thanks.

lckstckn2smknbrls · Aug 18, 2024

Your either going to have break the bolt or take a wood chisel or osculating tool to split the wood block allowing the bow eye to move forward and cut through the bolt. Then you can see what the next step will be.

DanOStarcraft · Aug 18, 2024

lckstckn2smknbrls said:
Your either going to have break the bolt or take a wood chisel or osculating tool to split the wood block allowing the bow eye to move forward and cut through the bolt. Then you can see what the next step will be.

Yep. Agreed. I wonder if a welder could weld on a new stainless steel threaded bolt to the eye? The eye itself actually seems in okay shape.

Crazyboat · Aug 18, 2024

I'd cut the bolt and replace it. Unless that's somehow not possible and I'm missing it.

boatyard · Aug 20, 2024

Those are usually just threaded shanks with a V block of wood inside and a nut. Take a Dremel tool or grinder and cut the nut off, remove the bow eye, wire wheel and chase the threads with a die and reninstall with a new stainless steel nylock nut. If the threads are too far gone, and they may well be, your looking at heating up the bow eye to free up the old stud to remove it. If its stainless, your already good to go. Cut a new piece of hardwood or machine up a chunk of aluminum and it'll lest the next five owners their lifetimes as well.
Your lucky, a lot of bow eyes are riveted on and you either replace the rivets or tighten the old one's with an air hammer and backing block.

lckstckn2smknbrls · Aug 20, 2024

You can try a nut splitter.

KMixson · Aug 21, 2024

I would try some PB Blaster. Try to get it down in behind the eye and let it soak a couple of hours. Then try to turn the bolt again from the inside.

DanOStarcraft · Aug 21, 2024

Awesome. Many thanks for the replies.

OldSailor85 · Aug 22, 2024

KMixson said:
I would try some PB Blaster. Try to get it down in behind the eye and let it soak a couple of hours. Then try to turn the bolt again from the inside.

Just my 2 cents. Did this stuff for a living.

"Knock'er Loose" is far better than PB Blaster.

So is Kroil.

thill · Aug 23, 2024

If you can, soak the nut and bolt in whatever lubricant you can. Then, if you can do it safely, take a torch with a pencil flame and heat that nut up and it will come off. Depending on your boat, it may be a little difficult to get to, but heat gets them all off.

OldSailor85 · Aug 23, 2024

thill said:
If you can, soak the nut and bolt in whatever lubricant you can. Then, if you can do it safely, take a torch with a pencil flame and heat that nut up and it will come off. Depending on your boat, it may be a little difficult to get to, but heat gets them all off.

Couple of the few tools I don't own is a set of torches and a welder.

Before I retired I always had them available.

Heat works wonders.

Burner208 · Nov 22, 2024

DanOStarcraft said:
Yep. Agreed. I wonder if a welder could weld on a new stainless steel threaded bolt to the eye? The eye itself actually seems in okay shape.

YES. The eye is fixable. You could just weld the eye to the hull if you didn't care about looks as much.

use vice grips on the head of the bolt and heat that eye with a map torch, shouldn't take much heat to make it pop it's corrosion. Chase with a penetrative oil while it's warm.

Burner208 · Nov 22, 2024

OldSailor85 said:
Couple of the few tools I don't own is a set of torches and a welder.

Before I retired I always had them available.

Heat works wonders.

Benzomatic makes a really neat makers torch, I use it for everything. They have a oxy propane/map as well and you can run those on grandpa's oxygen machine so you don't have to buy the small tanks. A $75 book of faces o2 generator and a bbq grill tank you can cut, braze, and weld with. Beats a full sized setup especially if you don't have the space or money.

David Atkins · Nov 22, 2024

DanOStarcraft said:
Yep. Agreed. I wonder if a welder could weld on a new stainless steel threaded bolt to the eye? The eye itself actually seems in okay shape.

As an old welder, I would want to clean it up or see it cleaned and then make the call but theoretically it can be done but the preparing of the materials is essential.

thill · Nov 22, 2024

You might buy a stick of WaterWeld epoxy stick, mix some up and pack it around the bolt to replace the rotten wood. If you get it in there tight, it should work well with little effort needed.

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