Bow Tack Plate - Rube Goldberg

[wps6]

Just became a 7.9 owner (Hull #398) and am working to set it up. While looking in the bow tunnel I found a mechanical connection that does not look OEM.

DSC06055 - Copy.JPG (83.62 KiB) Viewed 2416 times

It looks like someone added a hinge and a couple of small turnbuckles to put downward tension on the rear bolt of the tack plate. Can anyone tell me what should actually be up there?

Thanks!

Don Will
#398

[dave]

Man, all of that work and brainstorming and then use hardware store junk!!!!

Looks pretty shady to me........................................................ I would be looking for wet/rotten balsa in that area, because the only reason that I can think of for doing something that lame would be a quick, cheap and TEMPORARY repair to keep the aft part of the stemhead fitting from pulling through a soft deck! Heck, the pin in that el cheapo hinge would shear if things really started to pull on it!!!!!!!!

[BarryE]

Yikes; looks like the inside bow of an old 6 meter I used to race on.
Agreed, could be a quick'n dirty fix for a soft deck.
Water could have leached in through any of the multiple screw holes in that vicinity; hopefully it didn't spread too far.