Old Boat Question??

S

Schoonyutes

New Member
Hey Folks
First post here. I have a late 70's laser that is in great shape, always stored indoors and dry. My issue is that I pulled the main sheet block off in some high winds last year. See picture.
My question is this. Is there any way to fix this without putting it an inspection port and bolting it? I really don't want to cut a hole in it as it is in such good original shape.
Any suggestions or opinions welcome
Thanks
 

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Directly to your question- yes. It's possible to fill those holes up with epoxy, either as-is or drill them out to a larger size first; then re-drill and re-mount as before.

I also have an older Laser (1970's) and have an inspection port in mine. I took this pic of the underside so you can see what's inside mine.
mainsheet block thru-bolted, underside.JPG
As you see I've thru-bolted my mainsheet block mounting. I got that suggestion from a sticky thread on here called something like "buying an old Laser." It recommends thru-bolting all the hi-stress points in the boat- mainsheet block, rudder gudgeons, + attach points (both ends) of the hiking strap. My boat already had inspection ports fore + aft, so that decision wasn't part of it for me. But that said, having seen inside my 40+ yr old boat, I certainly think that recommendation is a good idea, IMHO FWIW YMMV etc etc.

Here's a pic of the inspection port. Partially obscured by the bottom profiling sonar / contour chart plotter GPS, which is a huge help in the lakes + reservoirs around here to avoid banging my old boat's daggerboard trunk on stuff. I'm just in it for the sheer fun (don't ever race) so I'm not constrained by class race rules; have owned it for 25 yrs and intend to cheat the nursing home + die on it and let my estate dispose of it so don't care about resale value.
mainsheet block+insp port.JPG

Hope that helps.
 
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