Bow Eye | Internal Support Pad

It was time to start thinking about installing fixtures and fittings, and I turned the page to Chapter 8 of the build manual: Fitting Out.

The first task is to install the bow eye. I had been thinking about this whilst on our travels in January and February and reminded myself that a support pad was required for the bow eye fitting on the inside of the stem.

I should have taken care of this before I installed the forward deck, while it was easy to access the interior of the bow compartment. Now it was all sealed up and watertight, and it would require contortionist abilities to install such a support pad via the inspection port in bulkhead 1.

The bow eye U bolt is secured by plates inside and outside the stem, so I needed to make a pad for the inside plate to bed down upon.

So, girding up my loins I found a piece of scrap Ash and started work. As here.

I cut a piece of Ash to the required width and drilled holes for the two 10mm legs of the U bolt, like this.

I determined the radius of the support pad where it meets the inside of the stem by using a variety of bottle tops, until I found one that matched nicely.

I used it to mark up the radius on the Ash block and shaped it with a rasp, like this.

Satisfied that the pad was the correct radius, I then cut it to the required length with the Japanese pull saw. As here.

It turned out well. Here is the support pad test fitted inside the bow compartment.

This is the finished pad with the bottle top used to determine its exact radius.

Finally here is the bow eye fitting loosely assembled with its support pad ready for installation.

We are definitely getting there!