Cruisers Forum
 


Reply
  This discussion is proudly sponsored by:
Please support our sponsors and let them know you heard about their products on Cruisers Forums. Advertise Here
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread Rate Thread Display Modes
Old 07-10-2016, 04:19   #16
Marine Service Provider

Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: Working in St Augustine
Boat: Woods Vardo 34 Cat
Posts: 3,865
Re: Front Cross Beam Cleats?

I have seen welded cleats on leopard cats pull off.

I recommend tying the lines directly around the beam and not bother with cleats. My boat is currently secured in this fashion for hurricane Matthew. Will report back.
__________________
@mojomarine1
Boatguy30 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-10-2016, 04:22   #17
Marine Service Provider

Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: Working in St Augustine
Boat: Woods Vardo 34 Cat
Posts: 3,865
Re: Front Cross Beam Cleats?

FYI my beam is glassed into the hull not bolted on and literally the strongest attachment to the hulls. Any cleat would be weaker than the full strength of the beam.
__________________
@mojomarine1
Boatguy30 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-10-2016, 13:31   #18
Registered User
 
UNCIVILIZED's Avatar

Join Date: Jun 2014
Location: Up the mast, looking for clean wind.
Boat: Currently Shopping, & Heavily in LUST!
Posts: 5,629
Re: Front Cross Beam Cleats?

Quote:
Originally Posted by paxfish View Post
My front cross beam is made from an aluminum mast section. The builder through bolted the cleat in the center, with an aluminum backing plate inside. How he positioned the plate and held the nuts while tightening I have yet to figure out, since it was about 9 FEET down the tube.

Anybody know what sort of trick might have been used?
Drill the beam for the cleat's bolts, then invert it so that the holes face the ground. Insert the backing plate with an indexed tool. One with witness marks, so as to correctly position the plate. Put the cleats in place on the beam, along with their bolts. Add the nuts to the inside of the beam via a custom, indexed tool, which also acts as a fixed wrench for them. And tighten the bolts externally with a standard wrench.

Note; when I say an indexed tool, to make it you can do something as simple as to take a plece of flat aluminum stock. Machine hexagonal holes into it for the nuts, with the holes spaced to match the cleat's footprint. Followed by adding another piece of aluminum over the backside of the holes, to keep them from being pushed out when you're lining them up blind. And then add precise witness marks to this (DIY) "fixed wrench's" handle, so that it lines the nuts up perfectly with the holes in the beam when it's inserted.

Also, I'd build this fixed wrench to be thick enough so that it barely fits into the beam in the vertical direction. Or rather, that thick primarily underneath of the nuts. So that when it's slid into the beam the nuts are already lightly pressed up against the pre-positioned backing plate. That way it'll take very few turns of the bolts before they begin to grab the threads in the nuts, thus pulling everything together.

Though along with making the head of the fixed wrench the correct thickness to hold the nuts at the proper vertical distance. You might have to use a another trick or three in order to keep it pressed up against the inside of the beam. Be that temporary solid shims slipped into place underneath of it, an inflatable bladder used to add pressure, or a lever, etc. And to some degree gravity will be assisting you, as the beam will still be oriented such that the holes in it are facing downwards.

And if you wanted to get fancy, you could add a remote or fiber optic camera inside of the beam to help you with positioning things at some points during the assembly.
__________________

The Uncommon Thing, The Hard Thing, The Important Thing (in Life): Making Promises to Yourself, And Keeping Them.
UNCIVILIZED is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-10-2016, 13:37   #19
Marine Service Provider

Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: Working in St Augustine
Boat: Woods Vardo 34 Cat
Posts: 3,865
Re: Front Cross Beam Cleats?

I just slid a double backing plate of the same section in and used my Mazda car jack to push it into place with a long furring strip nailed to the jack eyelet.

Drilled and tapped the beam and doubler for heilicoils. Holds the head stay and seagull striker on 4 5/16" machine screws.
__________________
@mojomarine1
Boatguy30 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-10-2016, 05:43   #20
Senior Cruiser
 
GordMay's Avatar

Cruisers Forum Supporter

Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: Thunder Bay, Ontario - 48-29N x 89-20W
Boat: (Cruiser Living On Dirt)
Posts: 49,139
Images: 241
Re: Front Cross Beam Cleats?

Quote:
Originally Posted by UNCIVILIZED View Post
Drill the beam for the cleat's bolts, then invert it so that the holes face the ground...
Might be a little awkward, with the beam attached to the boat.
__________________
Gord May
"If you didn't have the time or money to do it right in the first place, when will you get the time/$ to fix it?"



GordMay is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-10-2016, 02:40   #21
Moderator
 
Jim Cate's Avatar

Join Date: May 2008
Location: cruising SW Pacific
Boat: Jon Sayer 1-off 46 ft fract rig sloop strip plank in W Red Cedar
Posts: 21,151
Re: Front Cross Beam Cleats?

Quote:
Originally Posted by GordMay View Post
Might be a little awkward, with the beam attached to the boat.
Ahh, no worries, Gord! After all, it is a catamaran, so it will likely be upside down soon enough...

Jim
__________________
Jim and Ann s/v Insatiable II, lying Port Cygnet Tasmania once again.
Jim Cate is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-10-2016, 07:38   #22
Registered User

Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: New York
Boat: FP, Eleuthera 60
Posts: 528
Images: 4
Re: Front Cross Beam Cleats?

I would not put cleats on the crossbeam, not designed for it.....put the cleat on the bows with backing plates, they will hold force in all directions.
MIRELOS is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-10-2016, 18:15   #23
Registered User
 
pstadt's Avatar

Join Date: Dec 2013
Location: Used to be Cruising the US East Coast
Boat: Fountaine Pajot, Orana 44
Posts: 167
Re: Front Cross Beam Cleats?

Thanks to all for the cautionary info - have scrapped the crossbeam mounting idea and will go with Cotemar's method of bow mounting them.

Pat
pstadt is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-10-2016, 05:59   #24
Registered User

Join Date: Jan 2015
Location: Southern Maryland
Posts: 266
Re: Front Cross Beam Cleats?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Boatguy30 View Post
I just slid a double backing plate of the same section in and used my Mazda car jack to push it into place with a long furring strip nailed to the jack eyelet.

Drilled and tapped the beam and doubler for heilicoils. Holds the head stay and seagull striker on 4 5/16" machine screws.
This is is my favorite type of engineering! Well done!

Tell me you weren't thinking of ways to use a nut rather than tapping....
paxfish is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 19-10-2016, 06:19   #25
Registered User
 
Cotemar's Avatar

Community Sponsor

Join Date: Dec 2007
Boat: Mahe 36, Helia 44 Evo, MY 37
Posts: 5,731
Re: Front Cross Beam Cleats?

This is how we set up our bow cleats.

http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...ml#post2238195
Cotemar is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 21-10-2018, 08:08   #26
Registered User
 
Saleen411's Avatar

Join Date: Jan 2015
Location: Discovery Bay, CA
Posts: 1,183
Re: Front Cross Beam Cleats?

Question....

What is considered "light use only" for the crossbeam bow cleats?

The Leopard 44 we just chartered only had 2 "real" bow cleats....I've never used the crossbeam bow cleats just because.

Thanks.
__________________
"Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore"- Andre' Gide
Saleen411 is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Tags
cleats

Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search
Display Modes Rate This Thread
Rate This Thread:

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are Off


Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Wide Beam vs Narrow Beam Srah 1953 Monohull Sailboats 104 08-12-2016 18:59
What's the Gubbins on the Front X Beam For? damianham Multihull Sailboats 13 10-08-2013 06:50
Seizing Nylon Cleats to Wire - Flag halyards, light load-bearing cleats, etc. blahman Deck hardware: Rigging, Sails & Hoisting 5 09-02-2009 09:05
front beam for cat. viking69 Construction, Maintenance & Refit 0 04-03-2008 13:01

Advertise Here


All times are GMT -7. The time now is 10:03.


Google+
Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.8 Beta 1
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
Social Knowledge Networks
Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.8 Beta 1
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.

ShowCase vBulletin Plugins by Drive Thru Online, Inc.