Installing cleats or bollards on Grand Banks

[Johnboyrtw]

I have a 1996 GB’s 42 Classic and I would like to install a set of cleats or bollards near the transom. There is only one cleat for the two hawse pipes, each side, on the Grand Banks 42. When adding more lines for storms, cold fronts, etc, that one cleat gets kinda crowded. Has anyone added cleats/bollards to their Grand Banks? If so, where did you mount them and how did you do it and what size hardware did you use? Thanks in advance.

 

[MVSeafarer]

I looked into doing this on my 36CL for exactly the same reason. The difficulty is getting access to the backside. The upper deck is extensively tabbed and there's virtually no access from below. You could pull the hawse pipe and see if you could fish a backing plate in that way, might be room. You'll probably end up having to grind away some solid fiber reinforced resin in that area. I recently repaired my hawsepipe attachment and there's a bunch of solid resin in the area.



I was going to put them forward of the side hawse pipe. Bulwark is flat and much simpler to deal with vs the transom and it's curvature.



Pull both the inner and outer plates off and take a look inside to see if there's room, it might work just fine. Find a pair of cleats and order the fasteners. If you measure the head size on the "screw" for your existing cleat there's a table on the web that'll tell you what size it is. Order a bronze screw the same size, figure out the length from the stackup of cleat, hull, backing plate and nut all combined and get the next longer screw. Make up the backing plates and have at it. It would probably be a good idea to use thickened epoxy on the side of the backing plate that touches the fiberglass to get it good and solid. The bulwark isn't that thick beyond the original cleat location. Put a stainless sheet on the backside where the nuts go. I never got to the install part so how to secure the nuts is a part I hadn't gotten to but you could use stainless and tack weld it to a thin sheet to hold them all in alignment. I bought another boat and am going to save my cleats for it.


Hey just saw you have a newer boat probably with stainless hardware. Not sure but I suspect stainless screws are also available in the appropriate size. Just make a welded backing plate with .125 thick 304 and your nuts, tack them while installed on your cleat so it all lines up then install. Should work just fine, if you can get it in there!!



Good luck

 

[Rob R]

Hawsepipe repair

Hi MV Seafarer, you mention repairing your hawsepipe attachments in the thread. How did that go? I recently shipped a new to me GB42 and the outer section of 2 hawsepipes partially popped out under the strain of the straps securing my boat to the ship. Looks like 2-4 of the bronze screws stripped and bent.
I haven't assessed the damage/repair process yet (i live in Denver and get the my Bellingham, WA based boat mostly in the summer) so trying to figure out what I'll need on my next trip.
Is the inner and outer part simply screwed together?
Should I plan on using fairing/epoxy to strengthen and size the opening for a tight fit?
Anything special about the screws that GB used to fasten the inner and outer parts together?
Appreciate any help on this.
Rob

 

[MVSeafarer]

Rob,

I used some birch plywood and glued it to the inside surface of the inner and outer glass skins. It was 1/2 thick and I made a small puck for each screw location and secured it with thickened 5 minute epoxy. Carefully pre-drill all the screw locations. The adhesive isn’t super important just a clean bonding surface.

The fiberglass is a poor screw bearing material and the simplest solution is to not use it and put wood behind it. No special fasteners but I used bronze screws to keep with the look of the boat. It would appear this is a common issue as my old boat, my new boat and my dads boat have all had this problem.

Let me know if you have any problems, I’m in Seattle.

Drew

 

[Rob R]

Thanks Drew, sounds like a great fix strategy.
I had thought that portion of the hull would be solid glass for strength considering the cleats are fastened in. Next time I'm in the engine room (every time I'm on the boat-uggh) I'll take a look at that area to see what is accessible from below--this is mid ship so its a prat of the hull I can get to. I'll probably use Coosa board as a filler if I can access the space.
Rob

 

[MVSeafarer]

Rob,

Not sure you'll have much luck from below but it's worth a look. My 36 was fully tabbed below my aft pipes and there was no access other than through the hole the pipe made. I removed both inner and outer bronze parts and glued in the backing blocks then using the bronze parts as a drill guide predrilled all the locations then installed the pipes using dolphinite.

Let us know how it goes. I'll be posting my project on my 49 when it gets home in August.