FITTING WANDERER FURLING EYE BOLT                            By Wilf Bishop May 2002


When upgrading my middle aged Wanderer (W717) I was faced with the job of getting the new furling eye fitting bolted in place on the foredeck just behind the bow fitting. Being relatively large in stature and not having small agile grandchildren close at hand I had to resort to a Heath Robinson arrangement that may be of interest to other less agile Wanderer owners facing the same task. The attached sketch [click here to open Wilf's sketch in a separate window] should help support the following instructions?

q Drill the hole for the deck eye in strict accordance with the class rules.

q Make-up a wrench holder to fit a normal small socket wrench out of scrap wood to the approximate size & shape shown. The block that holds the wrench handle has a slot cut in it’s base to accommodate the wrench handle - this can be a loose fit & it is not necessary to be accurate here. I found that a 12mm hole in the block allowed the smaller extension bar to pass through the block easily and allow the 10mm socket to be fitted.

q The two parts of the wrench holder are screwed together after setting the socket wrench to its “tightening” mode and the 10mm locknut is placed in the 10mm socket. The stainless steel washer is held in position on the 10mm socket with a wrap of “BluTack” which is surprisingly effective and withstands a lot of knocking during the process without dislodging the washer?

q A suitable Phillips screwdriver or scrap piece of metal rod is pushed through the hole in the deck so it protrudes about 50mm into the under deck area and is held in position by a helper. I found that if the end of the rod or screwdriver is painted white with office white correcting fluid this helps one to see the whole thing a lot better.

q With the aid of a wooden block resting on the buoyancy tank one can carefully inch the wrench holder into place so that it engages with the screwdriver or metal rod. It’s best if the screwdriver or rod is sized so that it can pass though the washer and captive nut held in the 10mm socket. It seems to be critical to get the wrench holder to the correct height so the thickness of the wrench holder arm and the thickness of the wooden block are important.

q By careful leverage on the end of the wrench holder and coordinated withdrawal of the screwdriver or metal rod one can get the washer/nut/socket combination in exactly the right position to allow the helper to gently but firmly screw the deck eye down into the washer/nut/socket combination. I found it best to simply keep the wooden wrench holder stationary levered up against the underside of the deck whilst using a suitable screwdriver or metal bar to tighten up the deck eye.

q Celebrate the achievement with a stiff drink (or not if teetotal)?

Amazingly this worked the second time of trying - I cannot see how it should take more than three goes to get it to work.

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Wilf Bishop W717 “Django”

Tel: 01748 884854

Fax: 01748 884888

Email: wilf.bishop@btinternet.com