L&VW
Well-Known Member
Here, the controlled lake level drops through the warmer months. The purpose is to reduce shoreline damage from ice, and to make room for "Spring-Melt" off the hills. My former sailboats had lifts, but it is easier to just pull the Sunfish up on the dock. That is, until nearing the end of summer, when that initial pull can be a two-foot lift—"standing" on my knees—by pulling up only with the bow handle.
As those bow handle screws were getting a little loose and perhaps some day, there would be no way to get the Sunfish safely "aboard" the dock, I decided to through-bolt the handle to the foredeck, using all stainless-steel hardware. The rear screws, which don't have much "bearing" could stay as screws, so I epoxied a fixed stainless-steel bracket together to fit the front two (greatest load-bearing) bolts:
Then, drilled a hole under the bow handle where it couldn't be seen when reattached—then enlarged it to a lima-bean shape. (To accept the bracket). The bracket (pictured tilted, below) got a copper wire (right) inserted in such a way that the bracket (left) was free to rock 180°. Here's the bracket being inserted, using the wire:
(Messy adhesive, which had separated from the duct tape used to seal the hole from rain—appears to the right).
Finding the bracket ("blind") with the bolts was tricky. At this point, the only thing that could go wrong was for the bracket to hit a piece of unseen foam, and slide off the wire, entombing itself forever inside the hull. So...
As those bow handle screws were getting a little loose and perhaps some day, there would be no way to get the Sunfish safely "aboard" the dock, I decided to through-bolt the handle to the foredeck, using all stainless-steel hardware. The rear screws, which don't have much "bearing" could stay as screws, so I epoxied a fixed stainless-steel bracket together to fit the front two (greatest load-bearing) bolts:
Then, drilled a hole under the bow handle where it couldn't be seen when reattached—then enlarged it to a lima-bean shape. (To accept the bracket). The bracket (pictured tilted, below) got a copper wire (right) inserted in such a way that the bracket (left) was free to rock 180°. Here's the bracket being inserted, using the wire:
(Messy adhesive, which had separated from the duct tape used to seal the hole from rain—appears to the right).
Finding the bracket ("blind") with the bolts was tricky. At this point, the only thing that could go wrong was for the bracket to hit a piece of unseen foam, and slide off the wire, entombing itself forever inside the hull. So...