Tow Ring Reinforcement

[eeboater]

I bought a new tow ring for the stern of my boat so I can tow skiers and tubers...<br /><br />What should I use to reinforce the two through bolts? Some say to use a piece of plywood - sheetmetal? But I have no idea where I'd get a piece of sheetmetal that small.<br /><br />Also, do I need to get one of those counter drill bit things where I bevel the drill-holes for the tow ring? Or is that only for when you are physically screwing into the fiberglass?<br /><br />Thanks,<br />Sean

 

[Silvertip]

Re: Tow Ring Reinforcement

Any hardware store or home center has flat bar stock in various lengths and thickness and in steel or aluminum. You may need to buy a little more than you need but cut it off, drill two holes that match your tow ring and you'll be good to go. Shouldn't need to countersink the holes. Drill small holes first and work up to the size you need for the tow ring.

 

[Boomyal]

Re: Tow Ring Reinforcement

Where exactly are you going to mount it EE? If on the transom, it should already be reinforced enough to take the load. (Mercruiser=full transom) The only thing I would be concerned with for the thru transom mount is that you have large and heavy enough washers so the nuts do not dig into the wood.<br /><br />If you are mounting thru the upper deck fiberglass you would want lots of reinforcement depending on how and where you mounted it. I mounted mine thru the unreinforce transom on my OMC Stringer. I cut a piece of 2x2plus wood, cut it to the curved contour of the transom (all across the inside of the boat) and epoxied it on. I then drilled thru the 2x material to mount the ski hook.<br /><br />If the surface you are mounting on/thru has any kind of contour, you will want to match it with your backing/reinforcing material.<br /><br />And YES, I would still champher (bevel) the thru holes from the outside. That will keep the gelcoat from cracking out from the holes.

 

[eeboater]

Re: Tow Ring Reinforcement

Thanks for the info guys. I plan on mounting it through the upper deck fiberglass (I believe that is what you are referring to) the part directly behind the swim platform. It's a little hard to see here, but it is on the part of my boat that has the name on the back.<br /><br />

<br /><br />When you say 2x2plus material - do you mean a regular 2x2? What exactly is 2x2plus? What I'm looking for is weight distribution, correct? So as long as I put something behind the tow ring that is evenly distributing the strain along the whole rear of the boat (well its impossible to do the whole rear - but you get what I mean) that should be sufficient, right?

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: Tow Ring Reinforcement

figure out where you want it, exactly. mark your holes, drill a pilot hole and see how much wood you have there. it may just be all glass, then you have to reinforce more than if it is 2 inches thick.

 

[craze1cars]

Re: Tow Ring Reinforcement

Agree with all these responses. Drill first to see your thickness, and work from there.<br /><br />If you're more than an inch thick and you're drilling through 3/4 inches of plywood, I'd just go with a couple big stainless fender washers to prevent the nuts from digging into the wood as you tighten them and be done with it, a thick transom 'tis plenty strong by itself. <br /><br />But if it's just thin fiberglass with no reinforcement, just add a piece of 3/4 inch treated plywood inside the transom between the mounting point and the fender washers to distribute the load further. Doesn't have to be huge, maybe 12" by 6"? Whatever fits. Use a jigsaw to cut it to fit your area inside...only you know what's in there and what you have to work around. I also don't feel it needs to be epoxied or anything like that...as long as you seal the holes where the bolts push through, this area should never see a drop of water. The rest of the boat will rot long before your tow ring reinforcement wood does.<br /><br />Good luck!

 

[jkm2730]

Re: Tow Ring Reinforcement

I am doing the exact thing to my new/used 99' 1750. I don't intend to drill thru the transom as I will just remove the cleat that is already at centerline in the transom. It looks as though you also have a cleat there on your boat. My cleat appears to already be reinforced from the factory so I will just replace it with a tow ring. We have already pulled skiers (>175lbs) using the cleat with out issue. Take a look at the inside and see if its similar to mine.<br /><br />jeff<br />

<br />

<br /><br />jeff

 

[Boomyal]

Re: Tow Ring Reinforcement

Jeff, I don't know how thick the glass is there AND your mounting point is obviously well supported but I still would have put as wide a 3/4" solid hardwood* block as you could fit in there.<br /><br />*Plywood compresses too much.<br /><br />EEB, you'll love having the ski hook up there.

 

[eeboater]

Re: Tow Ring Reinforcement

Alrighty, well, I took a piece of solid 3/4" wood (non-plywood) I had in my garage, cut it so the wood was 27" wide and 5" tall. The wood basically runs from the far left side of the back of the boat up to the gas fill cap. I punched two holes directly below the center cleat - it was a nice way to find out where the center was.<br /><br />I picked up some washers that are about 2" in diameter and placed those in between the smaller washer and the nut on the back of the tow ring.<br /><br />Clamped her down and she is nice and strong now. I'll try to get some photos for you.<br /><br />Jeff --- definitely put some sort of a backing on that ring. Turns out, even though there is a cleat on there, it had very little reinforcements. It was near paper thin. If I simply hooked my tow ring up to the back of the boat it would have been ripped out with the first person getting towed.<br /><br />Sean

 

[KM2]

Re: Tow Ring Reinforcement

Jeff,<br /><br />Measure the thickness of the holes for us and post back. I think you may have wood glassed in and you are ok but I can't tell for sure from the picture.

 

[imported_Curmudgeon]

Re: Tow Ring Reinforcement

If I simply hooked my tow ring up to the back of the boat it would have been ripped out with the first person getting towed.<br /><br />Gotta love a Bayliner ...

 

[jkm2730]

Re: Tow Ring Reinforcement

Jeff,<br /><br />Measure the thickness of the holes for us and post back. I think you may have wood glassed in and you are ok but I can't tell for sure from the picture.

So I measured the thickness last night and the glass, and what appears to be plywood glassed in, are a total of 7/8" thick. Now is that enough? I pulled a skier with the cleat this week but I'm still considering putting a piece of 3/4" thick oak hardwood scrap up inside there. What do ya think?

jeff

 

[craze1cars]

Re: Tow Ring Reinforcement

It's thick enough, in my opinion, with fender washers. My boat has tow ring installed from the factory, and it's about that thick, no extra reinforcement, just installed with nuts and big washers. 1992 boat, no stress cracks in the glass near the ring, and my friends and I use it for hard pulling slalomers almost every day.

But if you have a scrap of wood and the tow ring bolts are long enough, you certainly have nothing to lose by spending 10 minutes cutting and drilling a scrap of wood for it, just to make yourself feel better.

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: Tow Ring Reinforcement

it never hurts to reinforce, i'd also add a stainless lock washer,