Adding a mid-ship ring for securing a fender line

[scross]

On our RT-25 Classic we felt we didn’t have enough cleats to secure fenders. I recently added extra cleats to the forward bow to better manage the mooring buoy line. The biggest gap for securing fenders was in the middle of the boat - there was a 10 foot gap between the cleat in the cockpit gunwaleand the cleat in line with the helm window.
Just about where I thought I needed an additional cleat there were the mounting points for the removable ladder for roof access. I devised a simple stainless ring mount that slips into either of the lower ladder mounts.
I purchased these on Amazon: Eye Ring Bolts, Surlan 304 Stainless Steel M8 Lifting Thread, added a few stainless washers, a nylon spacer and a thin stainless jam nut. The washers and spacer were glued into place and the jam nut was held in place by red loctite. Cost about $4 each and 10 minutes to assemble. ID of the ring is 0.83” so you can get most fender lines through the ring.

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[rpmerrill]

Brilliant.
I have often used a longer line on a bumper and tied it to the handrail on the roof. Then while I was gone I worried that a big wave would rock the boat and destroy the eyebrow that the line drooped over.

This is now on my list.
I checked at amazon and only found 6M bolts.
I think 8M sounds more correct but just have to double check.... are they 8M or 6M.
Thanks.

 

[scross]

The Surlan brand shoulder eye bolts are M8 with a 1.25 thread pitch. Came in a 6 pack fo $9.88 with free shipping at Amazon. Assembled 3 of them for use on the boat.

 

[rpmerrill]

OK thanks.
I'll continue the quest.

 

[captstu]

How did you reach inside to back the rents?

We fasten our mid-ship fender to the top rail on our R25, seems ok.


Stuart Bell
Ranger 25: Shearwater
(561) 352-1796

 

[scross]

Stuart,
The thin jam nut sits on the end of the threads and creates a very snug fit without the any scraping of the gelcoat behind the ladder mounting bracket.
We use to hang our fender from the top rail but I too was concerned about the fender line rubbing against the eyebrow using that location. One less thing to worry about with these new rings in place.