Loose Cleat

[captain morgan]

My starboard side cleat (mid-ship) is loose. the boat is a 1990 26'. It does not look to be easily accessible. Has anyone had to tighten/repair this on their boat. If so, how did you get at it. Thanks!

[Billt]

I have a 22 and had the same problem. I could get to mine under the liner of the cabin. Make sure you fix it. On my boat the raised toe rail creates an air gap between the hump the cleat is sitting on and the plywood core of the deck material. If water gets in past the cleat it falls streight onto the back side of the wood and runs aft. I noticed it when I saw water collecting in the deck core area in the cockpit. My cleat was attached with 2 washers and nuts that pulled into the deck/plywood core so it got loose. The right way to fix this would be to make a block that filled this void so you are not clamping the deck up into the void. It is to hard to get at to do this. I make a backing plate out of 1/4" x 1 1/2" aluminum strap with 2 holes drilled in it. Seat it with lots of 5200. I reset my gas fill at the same time - it had dried out and water was getting in.