Bow Plate Repair

The left Bow Plate on my 1974 Hobie 14 has come loose. It appears that the bolts/screws that hold one of the sides of the Bow Plate have been ripped out of their attachment holes/threads. When attempting to screw them down tightly, they do not grab any threads. I am looking for suggestions on how this might be repaired.

A thought is to remove the screws from the "working" side (to eliminate pressure on the "to be repaired" side), then fill the holes with epoxy and then inserting the original screws, allowing this to set up, and then reattaching the screws in the "working" side. Not sure if this is a good idea.

I would appreciate feedback and other ideas.

Thank you

The bow tang screws thread into an aluminum plate which is bonded to the inside of the deck. It sounds like the threads in the aluminum plate are stripped. Two possible solutions come to mind. First would be to drill and tap the plate where it’s stripped for the next size larger thread (I think the existing are #10 screws, so that would mean going up to a 1/4”-20 screw size). You can get a basic tap and stainless screws from Home Depot. You would also need to drill the holes in the tang larger to accept the bigger screws.

The other option would be to remove the existing tang all together and replace with a Hobie 16 style bow tang which uses only one large screw for attachment (this became the standard configuration on later H14’s). That would mean drilling a new hole in the center of the existing 4 bolt pattern and tapping for a 5/16”-18 screw. Then plug the four old holes.

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Thank you for your feedback. Your first suggestion seems like the cleanest and perhaps the easiest. I will give it a try and see what happens.

I did notice the tang on newer boats has been changed to a different style and uses a single bolt.

Thanks again.