[C320-list] Mid-ship cleats

[Jeff Church]

Chuck,

If you remove a wire chase cover you can find where one of the center 
bolts for a stanchion is drilled straight down through the rail. Then 
you will know where you are headed with this project. Space is very 
tight and a bit difficult to access, but overall it's well worth the 
effort. I drilled a hole with a small drill bit to make sure I had the 
correct angle into the center of the space below the rail, then I 
drilled the larger holes. I did this project a few years ago, so I don't 
remember what I needed in the way of tools, but I do remember that the 
biggest challenge was to fish a washer, lock washer, and nut onto the 
bolt in that very small space under the deck flange. You might need to 
bend an open end wrench, glue or tape the hardware to it, and then fish 
the whole assembly up to the bolt. I think I had to cut each bolt to 
length too.

If you don't want to bother with this project, I'd suggest that you put 
a car/cleat on the genoa track rather than installing the cleat through 
the deck.

Good luck

JeffC



Chuck and Kathy wrote:
> Jeff: This looks like a great solution as the cleats are out of the way.  If
> you just drill down straight through the rail, the bolts are accessible?  I
> just assumed that I would need to move it inboard.  By the way, I looked at
> all that you have done on Idlewild and you have an impressive set of
> modifications.  Thanks for the help.
>
> Chuck Mueller
> Northwind 676
> Holland, MI
>
> Jeff wrote:
> Check out the link below. These worked very well and the installation 
> was not bad. The rail is over 1 1/2" of solid glass. Just backup with 
> standard washers. There isn't room under there for a backing plate. I 
> used a 2-bolt open base cleat that has a fairly narrow base so that it 
> fit the width of the rail. I think the ones that I used were 6" Perko 
> cleats. Catalina Direct has some 8" cleats that might work.
>
> http://www.catalina320.com/mediagallery/media.php?f=0&sort=0&s=2008111613372
> 1965
>
> JeffC
>
>
>
>