Prepping for the Nose Ring

Installment 34 of Mako Reconstruction Project

We drew straws to crawl up under the bow and yank out the old boweye and backing block. I lost. How is it each and every boat has one incredibly uncomfortable spot like no other, and at some point you have to stuff yourself in it. This wood backing was in surprisingly good shape for 30 plus years abuse.

But continuing our modernizing theme, we're going to replace this wood with some rot resistance material.



We grabbed some scrap penske board left over from the transom job. Since the 3/4" thickness wouldn't cut it, TJ grabbed some 5 minute epoxy and bonded two strips together.



We then cut it to shape with a carpenters pull saw.



I buttered the area first with epoxy thickened with cabosil and 407 filler, then smeared more on the stem and set it home. I like the stick properties of 407 additive for holding stuff like this in place.

With a gloved hand I smooshed all the oozed epoxy into any voids around the perimeter and smoothed the backing surface. We'll add a load bearing backup such as G-10 to the face of this when the bow-eye is installed later.