Amazing how long it sometimes takes serious flaws to show up.

I went up to the boatyard today to take some sails from the boat to
the sailmaker and found that they had moved her into a slip from where
I had rafted alongside another vessel. When I stepped aboard, I saw
the teak jib sheet cleat broken off and lying on the cockpit seat. My
annoyance at clumsy line or boat handling changed to wonder when I
picked up the cleat. The countersinks for the bolt heads had been
over-enthusiastically drilled so deep that there was less than a
quarter inch of teak holding the cleats to the coamings. Either that
or some long ago Florida boatyard worker was making up for not having
long enough bolts.

Between the bung at the top of the cleat and the bolt heads was over
an inch of air! The part of the cleat that takes the line strain was
completely unsupported by the metal bolts.

I’d thought about replacing these cleats because they sometimes get
used for mooring lines and are pretty critical to handling the big
Genoa. They looked nice however and I figured that they must be up to
the job since they had held up since 1980. Looking at the broken cleat
though, I can’t believe they lasted through the boat’s first week of
sailing, let alone 26 years.

There will be a pair of new bronze cleats on the coamings next season.

--

Roger Long