Storm Damage - Mooring Cleat Pulled Out

[stewartkinsman]

During the storm which hit Marmaris/Fethiye, in January, the forward starboard mooring cleat pulled clean out, on my Beneteau 44cc,leaving a 2"" deep hole in the glassfibre. The cleat has been lost overboard, complete with studs.There appears to be little colateral damage and the marina staff (ECE SARAY in Fethiye) were on hand to retether the boat.
The lost cleat appears to have had very little in the way of backing plate which must have been glassed in.
I would like to know if anyone has had a similar experience and I would appreciate any advice anyone can offer on the sequence of repairs to fit a new cleat with a decent backing plate

 

[Ariadne]

I've always been told the backing plate should be S/S or 18mm plywood, with an area of at least twice (if possible) the area of the cleat. If not twice as big then as large a backing plate as can be fitted.

None of mine are glassed in, all are surface mounted with nyloc nuts visable for inspection. All of my mooring cleats and deck fixings (where I can access them easily are backed with either 4mm or 6mm S/S plate.

Get the local glass fibre expert to come down and fix the hole. Make sure he cleans the damaged area back to good solid fibre glass though.

Hope this helps.

 

[Refueler]

My 70's built boat has machine screws down into the GRP. That's for cleats, stanchion bases etc.

So over the years they worked loose as anyone would expect.

I couldn't fit backing plates because all were down through an inverted U toe-rail of GRP. The deck to hull joint prevented any serious access to the underside.

So I got hold of stud bar of the right thread and size ... poked down through from deck ... brought end to cabin :

Onto this I then wound on a few turns flat stainless bar plates that had been drilled and tapped to suit. They were 10cm long, just over 1cm wide and thread tapped in centre. Genorous blob of epoxy on top of the plate ...
The stud bar was then pulled back up till plate sat hard under toe-rail. A nut was wound down onto stud to tighten and force plate against underside till set.
Carefully later unscrewed stud and put in proper bolt.

This way - I could use original diameter bolts and be sure they had better hold.

On the horizontal stanchion bolts (my bases are inverted L shaped) - I used expanding thread sockets ....

The expanders were not my preferred option - but having no other way .....

So far after some serious abuse - all fixings are holding well.

 

[lw395]

What diameter hole is there?
Backing plates only spread the load into a larger area of deck.
If the deck is not strong enough, you may need to move the cleat, perhaps to where the loads can be spread into the rest of the structure.
For my bow mooring cleat I used a 50mm square washer on each bolt, a piece of 19mm ply shaped to go right across the underside of the deck (this is up the sharp end where its about 9in wide), assembled with about 6mm of epoxy and chopped glass to fill the gap and spread the load into the fairly substantial deck. I also removed the balsa core around the bolts for about 25mm and filled with a glass/epoxy mix, although I found it was solid grp under the front 2 bolts.

Also if the loads are not directly in line with the cleat, a four bolt job is much stronger.

 

[Ariadne]

Sorry, I did forget to mention that I had moved my cleats to more usefull & usable place place on the deck.

 

[stewartkinsman]

Thanks to all for three helpful replies so far. I will be back at the boat tomorrow and will reassess the situation, including the size of the hole and its location.

 

[LittleSister]

I thought it was common knowledge (or perhaps common mis-perception) that Beneteaus were what might be euphemistically termed 'lightly built'.

We looked at buying a Beneteau (albeit half the length of yours and probably many times the age) and (according to an earlier survey we got sight of) that also had no backing pads for the cleats. This was one of the reasons we decided against it, though it was a pity as it was an attractive boat with an imaginative but practical layout.

 

[stewartkinsman]

I am now back at the boat and have had the opportunity to inspect the damage - not as bad as it might have been, as the cleat has pulled clean out!
Until this problem with the cleat, I would not have said my Beneteau was lightly built - I believe it was one of the heaviest boats built by Beneteau. However, what I have now discovered about the cleat is quite illuminating. There are no backing plates on these cleats, not even washers. Hence the reason the cleat pulled straight off leaving two clean boltholes. I will be replacing with a plate and washers.
To be fair to Beneteau, the storm in January was particularly bad - evidence, Demonboy`s video of its impact in Marmaris.
Thanks again for all responses to my OP.