soft pad eyes

[tx river rat]

This is how I make my pad eyes ,I am not sure if it i the best way but it works
I use 1 inch webbing

cut a piece 8 inches long,I burn the ends to stop it from raveling

now fold it so that you have 1 inch sticking out past the edge on top.

I always have welding rods around so I use them ,a nail or any small rod will work . Heat it on the stove

now burn a hole threw all three pieces

this does two things ,gives you a hole and melts the area aroound the hole togeter and serves as a washer

Wala you have a soft pad eye ready to bolt on your yak,

finished project

are there any better ways to do this?
Ron

 

[JEM]

Found the link where I saw someone do something similar:

http://www.redfishkayak.com/softpadeyes.htm

 

[Kayak Jack]

Ronnie, you might try putting a half turn into the eye, and then mating the ends to install a grommet. It would be easier to slide something into the soft eye that way.

"Scram gravy Ain't wavy" Courtesy of the Smokey Stover cartoons

 

[tx river rat]

Jack
It really hurts more than it helps,and is harder to get something thru it.
Ron

 

[Kayak Jack]

That's strange.

 

[gbinga]

Hey - let's talk about that half turn and the grommet a little bit more. I am planning to install some of these on my pirogue for miscellaneous tie down points (cheaper than stainless or bronze fixtures would be, and I already have a bunch of nylon strapping)

Jack suggested putting a half turn in the eye, which I'm guessing is to hold the loop open and make it easier to thread a piece of rope through. Jack also suggested a grommet, which I'm assuming would be where you screw the pad eye to the boat (?)

I'd like to hear a little more about pros and cons before I make a bunch of these. I like the idea - It is cheap and functional, kind of like me.

 

[tx river rat]

My take on the twist in the pad eyes
From one side they work ok,the eye is not as stif and tends to fold,if you twist it the other way it want work at all,plugs itself up as you try to go thrue.
With the set up I use burning the hole I have a plastic groment around the bolt. the plastic fuses together when you burn the hole,with a brass groment you would have to put some kind of spacer down are the brass would work on your boat..This way seems to work the best for me.
Ron

 

[gbinga]

Thanks, Ron. Gonna wait and let Jack have his say.

Definitely going to follow your lead on making my own though. I got laid off a couple of weeks ago, and if I can make a nice neat fixture out of stuff I've already got, that's a winner!

George

 

[bearridge]

laid off! Dang buddy......double dang.

 

[oldsparkey]

Thanks, Ron. Gonna wait and let Jack have his say.

WHY...............

 

[gbinga]

laid off! Dang buddy......double dang.

Yeah... lack of work. Construction is slowww here in hotlanta. I've been waiting for it to happen for a year. :? The good news is that Sherri has a perfectly good job, we owe nothing but a fairly modest mortgage, and I started putting all the spare money in a savings account instead of the retirement account a few month ago. We'll be fine as long as I find some sort of job, which I am sure I will.

GBinGA

 

[gbinga]

River Rat pad eyes on the Pirogue. I put one at the top of each stem, and one at the bottom of each side rib, for a total of eight.

I made these exactly like Ron described, except I stitched the fold-over with a sewing awl for a little extra security.

The ones at the stem are secured with a #12x1" pan head and flat washer, the ones at the ribs are done with #8x3/4" and flat washer, all stainless. I had intended to use bronze pad eyes, which would have looked great, but would be expensive. Cash flow ain't what it used to be, so the make it yourself solution was perfect. To be honest, I think this will work just as well or better, and look just fine.

Thanks for the tip, Ron!

George

 

[Kayak Jack]

George,

I was on the road for a week, and it looks a s though you got along just fine. I suggest the half twist in the loop portion for two reasons: remember the hammer loop on he side of blue jeans? And, Cooke uses a half twist in his loops.

Sometimes, when running rope through a half-twist loop, I'll hang it up. Then I wonder, "Why the half twist?" When I see the wind sawing a line around on a tied down rain fly, I know why the half twist. It works to distribute the load a bit better. Any loop, twisted or straight, can have a line run through it a bit easier if you press on the end of the loop to open it up some.

I like your cargo tie downs in our boat, good idea. I used some small, wooden triangles with a hole drilled through, and glued them down.

 

[bluegrasslover]

When screwing these down do y'all dip the screw in some silicon or something or just put it in dry? I wanted to put some of these in as well and didn't know if I should try to waterproof the screw hole or not.

 

[gbinga]

The inside of my boat is finished with a mixture of linseed oil, turpentine, and paraffin. So I just put some stick wax on the threads to ease the driving into the hard mahogany.

If your boat is encapsulated, I would think you would want to waterproof the screw holes. You could do it with silicone, but be careful about smearing it around when you do so, because nothing (paint, varnish, etc) will want to stick to it.

I wouldn't use epoxy, cause you will have a hard time backing out the screw someday. Have to heat it with a soldering iron to get it loose.

I will be interesting to see what some of the other guys say.

George

 

[tx river rat]

If you want to realy do it right do the drill fill and drill thing,drill a larger hole fill it with epoxy and wood flour the sand and dril the right size hole in it . This seals all the edges.
Ron