Loose tow point on 5.99

[JenoNT]

Gday gents,

I have a 5.99 C/C, and the front mounted tow point has come loose. It looked like it was ready to pull out from the bottom point. I have tapped it back into place but it is wobbly now. I'm getting a bit of water coming into to the hull as well and I suspect it is from this....hope so anyway because if not I might have a split hull.....that would not be cool:eek:

How are these things mounted to the hull? How do you get access to the back of them? And lastly does anyone know how to fix them. And is it just me or does the tow point seem a bit puny for the size and weight of these hulls?
I do remember a post about this on the old site where somebody had beefed up his tow point and also mounted a stainless steel rub plate at the front where the hull touchs the front roller on the trailer, but like most of the good posts it was lost on when the old site crashed.......wtf. This forum has never really recover from that has it!

Anyway hopefully someone can help and shed a bit of light on this issue.

[Dave]

Jeno, on the 4.55 the bolt goes through the hull and the nut is inside the anchor well.

Check that out, it must be the same otherwise there is no way to get to it.

Some of the guys have had leaks through the bow eye bolt so it wouldnt hurt to seal it before you tighten, modify it.

[Dreamin]

Hi Jeno
Mine has a spin off inspection plate on the front of the anchor well that gives access to the nuts on the back of the towpoint with a bit of luck it will just need a tighten.If you think it needs strengthening a stainless plate on the rear should do.Maybe I should check mine now as a bit of sealant came off a whhile back.

[chin]

forum has never really recover from that has it!

Stick around Jeno, like any forum it's only as good as the input from the members. Let us know how you go with your tow point problem. :)

[JenoNT]

Hi Jeno
Mine has a spin off inspection plate on the front of the anchor well that gives access to the nuts on the back of the towpoint with a bit of luck it will just need a tighten.If you think it needs strengthening a stainless plate on the rear should do.Maybe I should check mine now as a bit of sealant came off a whhile back.

Hi Gents,

Thanks for the replies, I had a good look at it last night and pulled the tow hook completly out. For a boat as big, heavy and robust as the 5.99 the tow point really is a flimsy piece of kit. My boat is apparently one of the originals from the first lot of 5.99's made (if you look at the polycraft website in the 5.99 section and have a look at the boat tests, my boat is the white one featured in one of the tests, it has the 130 honda on it). Anyway in what is almost toy like the tow hook design is simply a smallish s/s rod bent into a hook and threaded at each end. This is then put through the hull with the threaded ends protruding into the anchor well.

The truely toy like feature is the part the stops the hook being pulled up all the way flush with hull when you tension the threaded ends with the nuts. This is a flimsy piece of plate that slips over the ends and the rod is pinched to stop it pushing through the plate. Because the plate is so so flimsy the pinched steel has pushed through the hole causing the plate to not seat flush on the hull but push away from the hull and towards the bend of the hook.

I know this doesn't make much sense without pictures but I didn't have time to take photo's, I was busy trying to diagnose the problem then see if I could fix it. All I could do for the time being was pull it apart and clean it all up, remove all the old sealant etc, hit it with a bucket loak of white marine sikaflex, put it back together and tighten it up and hope for the best. As soon as I tightend the bottom nut up from the inside of the anchor well, the pinched part of the rod on the outside pushed through the hole in the plate which caused the plate to kick away 2/3 mm from the hullwtf ....anyway I just bogged that gap with sikaflex and am now hoping for the best. I am supposed be taking the boat on a 6 day charter trip this coming tuesday where mine and two other boats will be towed behind a mother ship out to sea about 180kms off shore to a system of reefs. We then plan to use the small boats to run around and fish the various reef systems......wont be taking the boat if it is still leaking.

So what needs to happen?????????? This tow point needs to beefed up something seriously, I mean these are heavy boats and this tow point is something I would expect to see on a Tonka truck or maybe a chinese made bmx. I mean really, the plate at the front, meant to hold the hook in place is very thin and weak, the backing plate located inside the anchor well is made out of aluminium, why not stainless at least????? These boats weigh in at around 2 ton.

I have some idea's, i'll let you know how I go,

Cheers

[BigFella]

You may need to purchase a new tow eye, use the plates off both units to make up one unit with two plates, one plate on the outside and the second plate on the inside as original fitment. This way the plastic wall is sandwiched between the two plates giving you a much stronger tow point.
These tow eyes are standard fitment on just about all boats poly and glass combined.
I would say yours has been over tightened over the years and this has stretched the holes.


Oh and good luck with the trip, last years was a hoot!
Say G'day to your skipper for the BigFella.
And ask him has he learnt to DUCK yet?

[Pirate Pete]

Some how I missed this post.

I had the exact same problem with my 5.3

I removed the eye from the boat.

Welded the outside plate to the hook as it had done the same thing

Then re fitted with so all clear silicon.

I havent had a problem since.

I think mine got moves as I hit the front rolled a bit hard when driving on at some stage. doh doh doh

[JenoNT]

You may need to purchase a new tow eye, use the plates off both units to make up one unit with two plates, one plate on the outside and the second plate on the inside as original fitment. This way the plastic wall is sandwiched between the two plates giving you a much stronger tow point.
These tow eyes are standard fitment on just about all boats poly and glass combined.
I would say yours has been over tightened over the years and this has stretched the holes.


Oh and good luck with the trip, last years was a hoot!
Say G'day to your skipper for the BigFella.
And ask him has he learnt to DUCK yet?

Ahhhh, the old problem of "stretched holes", became more common as I got older and so did the age of the women I dated..............oopps not politically correct alarm is sounding.....guess you can take the man out of the navy but not the navy out of the man........Geobec would probably say something about that leading to stretched holes as wellpiratesign......but that's just an army fantasy:D

I already have an idea on how to fix this issue! I will take the plate and hook to my local fabricator and get him to make up a stainless plate roughly about 2/3 mill thicker than the original chinese toy factory piece of kit. I will be guided by his advice as to whether it should be welded to the hook or if there is some other way other than the pinched metal set up used as standard. The next issue is then the inside part located in the anchor well. My main issue with that is the nuts screw down into the V section of the backing plate, this is just silly. I will either look at getting them to fabricate a replica of the alloy plate in stainless or place some stainless flat bar on the inside so that the nuts are tightened down onto a flat surface.

I will provide picks when it is done!

[BigFella]

Dont forget to take yout kidney belt if you intend on letting Geobec drive the boat!!!
Trust me, grab the keys every chance you get!!!