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**casual** · 18-02-2012, 11:06

Bamboo tooth picks,by them at a food store,mix up some epoxy,put it in the hole insert Bamboo,let harden,trim after hardening,in sert screw it works.

Nicholson58 · 18-02-2012, 11:08

[QUOTE=SailFastTri;890374]delmarrey you gave the best solution, IMHO. Good on ya!

Best strength for minimal modification to structure, and it does not need special skills to make it look nice. I would add that the OP should take care to smooth all the metal edges.

The metal bar behind is great if you can reach it. I assumed you could not so I suggested the gray Marine Tex. It is metal filled epoxy and rated for drill & tap. We used it for bolting on many parts where we could not use a backer plate and never had a failure. In foam or balsa core we made a special tool tohollow out a cavity 3 or 4 times the bolt diameter and packed the epoxy in - later drill through and tap. This is also good for making water-tight, crush-proof clearance holes for winch mounting. Lots of good ideas here. I generally like to fix things only once so choose the one that is the most likely to never require attention again.

**Cheechako** · 18-02-2012, 12:49

Can you simply move it to the other side? If so, drill and tap the holes and use machine screws. It almost looks like a pop rivet might work...?

**Therapy** · 18-02-2012, 13:03

Quote:

Originally Posted by RQF4

Funny comment about the boy swinging from the arms as we have just reached that stage, hence the rise on the priority list.

No amount of repair will work if the boy is allowed to swing on it.

Fix the boy first!

**hellosailor** · 18-02-2012, 13:11

Epoxy or glass in a "Helicoil" threaded insert. Then you can simply screw new machine screws into that.

**Charlie** · 18-02-2012, 13:19

I think Del's ideas is the strongest. For those who know wood better then metal you could mill a piece of wood to do the same thing. Since you can't tap wood you could either use a small plate and tap that or epoxy a nut to the back side of the wood to accept the machine screw.

**David M** · 18-02-2012, 13:25

If you can get to the backside then thru-bolt it.

If not then move it and drill new holes below it. It looks like you still have adequate room to do this. Fill in the old holes with an epoxy filler and paint over. Nobody will notice unless they are told where to look.