How to add a Bow Eye to a V-hull Lone Star?

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CMOS

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Howdy All,

I'm working on restoring my 1963 Lone Star 14' V but as of now it doesn't have a Bow Eye. It does have a "handle" on the front/top of the bow cap which is where the winch hook currently attaches. I don't like the alignment of this setup, but I'm unsure as to how and what type of bow eye to install on this boat.

See a couple pics below so you can see the original setup:

https://www.thetexaswineguy.com/Boat1.jpg
https://www.thetexaswineguy.com/Boat10.jpg

Thoughts?

CMOS
 
On my jon boat I used a small stainless steel u-bolt. That should work for you too but you will need to make a backing piece that fits the inside of the bow. The backing piece can be wooden, plastic or aluminum.
 
My setup was like yours. I bought a stainless steel bow eye . I used an old screwdriver handle as a backing lol
 

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A regular I bolt will work. They make one with regular bolt threads. Lowes should have them. No need to drill two holes. (You should have had a hole already? ) You might look for a cheap thin washer. And see if it will bend into the v as you tighten the nut down. A lock nut! At some point you might not be able to keep a socket on the nut to turn it all the way down however. Make sure it's going to fold into the v enough. If not just use the nut. Mine only has the nut.
You might want to mark where the nut ends when tightened. Back it back out and cut off the extra threads. Leave the nut on when you cut it. Then back it off to push the starting threads back out. Might need to file the edge down.
Wow did I just write all that for an I bolt. I'm full of it this morning. :mrgreen:
 
Good input guys.

Insanity - oddly enough I see no evidence that there ever was a bow eye. Doesn't make sense.

There was another thread where a guy backed up the dual-thread eye with a 1" diameter aluminum piece of tubing. He purposely "crushed" the tube about 50% by tightening the nuts. Then he backed out the nuts and eye itself, slopped on some 3M 5200 and put her back together. Nice looking setup.

Thanks again for the input.

CMOS
 
My boat never had a hole for one either. I would go with a U bolt with some type of backing piece. If you used one I bolt it might wallow out over time in that thin aluminum.
 
I already have a dual bolt eye. Just need to do a backing. I'm leaning towards cutting a piece of a 4x4 post with my Miter saw as a backing - then seal it with some Resin.



justinsain1026 said:
My boat never had a hole for one either. I would go with a U bolt with some type of backing piece. If you used one I bolt it might wallow out over time in that thin aluminum.


CMOS
 

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