301 cleat failure

Normally theses things are drilled, tapped and fastened thru the glass to the backing plate which is embedded.  My guess…the laminators had a bad day and forgot that plate. Later in the build, they drilled and tapped the fiberglass only and didn’t notice! Obviously a thorough inspection on all deck fittings that you can get to. I’ve heard this happen before. Once on a main sheet block which can cause injury if one is in the way.

Wow. That’s worst then I thought. Looks like a different method than they use now. It’s thru bolted with nuts and washer. That would work if only the glass weren’t so thin. If the rest of the deck is that thin then you’ll have other problems waiting for you.  If you have access to the space underneath, then repair and reinforcement will be tedious but can be done.

Hi Richard - I've been similarly underwhelmed. The basic design appears sound with the really important stuff - keel and chainplates - being strongly fixed.  However, the quality of the fitting of some deck gear was poor to the point of negligent, although many other items were done well.  As part of a refit last year I had the shipwright inspect and rebed where necessary every single stanchion and cleat base and every single item of deck gear that could be accessed including the toerail fixings.  Most were OK but some were not; the pulpit and pushpit fixings were underdesigned so had beefed-up backing plates added.  Given your experience with that cleat, I'd strongly recommend you do similar even if it means cutting into linings to access the sites.  A cheap endoscope might help in the first instance if you've the time to do the work yourself.

That’s awful, which cleat was it? 

Thanks for posting this, I also inspected my cleats on 301 and identified that on the port side there was similar small cracks in the gelcoat. The cleat is really attached to the deck only with bolts and small washers without any reinforcement laminated into the fiberglass (that I have seen on other boats and regarded as the standard).

Luckily the port aft cleat is easily accessible through the aft berth and I removed the bolts, and attached a large aluminium plate (with bit epoxy between it and GRP) to the hull to have a better reinforcement. Have to try to reinforce also the other cleats in near future, but those appear to be bit more difficult to access