Liz and I purchased the stem fitting reinforcement kit from Catalina Direct for about $50, and proceeded to reinforce the damaged deck where the stem fitting had pulled up about 1/8" after our last sail. See pictures for the full story of the process. If you click on a picture, you will get a much higher resolution image for your perusal....
This is the original condition of stem fitting seen from below decks, in the bow of the boat. As you can see, the bolts come through the fiberglass deck, just after the deck plywood stops. I don't know who thought this was a good idea! There isn't even a backing plate to spread the load across the decking!!!
The same area, above decks, with the stem fitting removed. Note the cracks around the forward two mounting holes. This is where the decking started to pull up. You can see residue from the silicon that was under the stem fitting originally. Our plan was to reglass the deck from below, fill the holes with West System marine epoxy, then reglass from above, and redrill the holes. Thanks to
Chip Ford for suggestions for reinforcing the deck.
Here is the view from below, after two sheets of new fiberglass were laid and the holes filled with epoxy. You can see some small drips of epoxy, where it was pushed through some of the fiberglass cloth. We let the fiberglass cure before putting in the epoxy, and let the epoxy cure before glassing above decks.
Topsides, after glassing over the expoxy-filled holes.
The same view, after we drilled the new holes through the epoxy and fiberglass. You can see the stem fitting plate in the background.
This is the bow area below decks, ready for the stem fitting reinforcement kit to be installed. The nuts and washers have been removed from the bow eye bolts below. I examined the bow eye block and bolts and determined they were in good condition and didn't need to be replaced. Also, we cut a backing plate for the stem fitting out of 3/4" marine grade plywood, drilled it to match the holes through the deck, and varnished it. The backing plate is visible in the final photo below.
The stem fitting reattached to the deck. We used 4200 marine caulk to fill in beneath the fitting, and used the same caulk on the wooden backing plate below decks, and to re-mount the bow eye and its metal plate on the bow.
A view of the bow eye from outside, after it has been reset and re-caulked.
The final installation of the stem reinforcement kit, with extra backing plate, as seen from below deck. We sure feel a lot more peace of mind, knowing that this extra reinforcement is in place!
