JEM Watercraft

I am thinking of placing a pad eye on the front deck of my northwind to attach a handle to. I was wondering if it would be acceptable to glass in a small scrap of aluminium or stainless steel sheet under the deck and affix the pad eye with ss rivets through the deck and metal. I realise that I would have to enlarge the holes in the ply and fill with epoxy woodflour mix.

Roger

Just do this ...

rodot wrote:I am thinking of placing a pad eye on the front deck of my northwind to attach a handle to. I was wondering if it would be acceptable to glass in a small scrap of aluminium or stainless steel sheet under the deck and affix the pad eye with ss rivets through the deck and metal. I realise that I would have to enlarge the holes in the ply and fill with epoxy woodflour mix.

Roger

Sounds like a good plan. Fender washers work well for this. I'd consider gluing on an additional piece of plywood about an 1" bigger than your hole pattern. That doubler will help distribute the stress and not isolate it to your rivets alone.

Thanks guys.
I like the simple handle as Woodman has shown but it might allow a small amount of water to enter the compartment. I dont know if a bit of silicon around the rope where it enters the hull would limit that.There is access to dry it out, but it will be difficult.
The idea of the metal plate was because I dont know how I would be able to hold any washers in place while rivetting.