I am finally tired of screwing around with the bolts that hold the
nesting dinghy together. My technique was to lower both halves into
the water each with a line attached to primary boat. Climb into aft
half and pull forward half to me and while water pours through the
bolt holes, I insert the bolts while holding the halves togehter. I
did make special u-shaped ply pieces to hold them together while I put
in the bolts. Believe it or not it does work, still when he water is
cold I resent getting wet, So...............
In the McMAster-Carr catalogue I found these cam action latches that
have a hook that grabs something and then pulls it toward you and then
latches. I'll recess a stainless eye in the forward half near the
waterline and put a epoxy/wood piece on the inside to cover it and
make it waterproof. The latch will then be attached to the outside of
the back half near the waterline. It will extend, grab the forward
eye and pull back and latch.
Unfortunately, I have not found them in stainless so I'll have to
paint em really well. They will also stick out from the sides of the
dinghy when it is in deck but that doesnt seem so bad and might even
offr something to lift with.

Frogwatch wrote:
I am finally tired of screwing around with the bolts that hold the
nesting dinghy together. My technique was to lower both halves into
the water each with a line attached to primary boat. Climb into aft
half and pull forward half to me and while water pours through the
bolt holes, I insert the bolts while holding the halves togehter. I
did make special u-shaped ply pieces to hold them together while I put
in the bolts. Believe it or not it does work, still when he water is
cold I resent getting wet, So...............
In the McMAster-Carr catalogue I found these cam action latches that
have a hook that grabs something and then pulls it toward you and then
latches. I'll recess a stainless eye in the forward half near the
waterline and put a epoxy/wood piece on the inside to cover it and
make it waterproof. The latch will then be attached to the outside of
the back half near the waterline. It will extend, grab the forward
eye and pull back and latch.
Unfortunately, I have not found them in stainless so I'll have to
paint em really well. They will also stick out from the sides of the
dinghy when it is in deck but that doesnt seem so bad and might even
offr something to lift with.


Do a google search for "over center latch stainless". They certainly
exist in s.s.

Evan Gatehouse

On Feb 13, 3:59 am, Evan Gatehouse2
wrote:
Frogwatch wrote:
I am finally tired of screwing around with the bolts that hold the
nesting dinghy together. My technique was to lower both halves into
the water each with a line attached to primary boat. Climb into aft
half and pull forward half to me and while water pours through the
bolt holes, I insert the bolts while holding the halves togehter. I
did make special u-shaped ply pieces to hold them together while I put
in the bolts. Believe it or not it does work, still when he water is
cold I resent getting wet, So...............
In the McMAster-Carr catalogue I found these cam action latches that
have a hook that grabs something and then pulls it toward you and then
latches. I'll recess a stainless eye in the forward half near the
waterline and put a epoxy/wood piece on the inside to cover it and
make it waterproof. The latch will then be attached to the outside of
the back half near the waterline. It will extend, grab the forward
eye and pull back and latch.
Unfortunately, I have not found them in stainless so I'll have to
paint em really well. They will also stick out from the sides of the
dinghy when it is in deck but that doesnt seem so bad and might even
offr something to lift with.

Do a google search for "over center latch stainless". They certainly
exist in s.s.

Evan Gatehouse


Evan:

Thank You, I had no idea what these latches were called and yes they
are available in stainless.

Thanks

David