| Author | Message | ||
     Mike Bergmann Unregistered guest Rating: N/A |
I actually installed Kingston dinghy davits back there for my annual cruise. The loads are VERY high. I used the WEST hardware bonding system, which worked fine at the lower brackets but failed at the upper brackets. My solution was to cut out the inner fiberglass skin and the balsa for an area about 4" square. I replaced the removed stuff with solid laminate and a prefabricated fiberglass load plate permanently laminated to the inside skin. This worked very well and I have absolutely no flex or cracking. One problem with using the WEST bonding on a vertical surface is that it is difficult to get the resin and filler to flow into the void around the bolt. I solved this by drilling a small hole above the main hole and injecting the resin with a hypodermic. You do have to be careful with this because voids are hard to find. PS - I still race most of the time, with the davits and brackets removed. I can install the whole system in about 15 minutes. It takes me a total of about an hour to convert from racing to cruising, including hoisting a roller furling jib, adding lazy jacks, changing to my old cruising main, and adding the davits. The boat is pretty versatile! |
