KayaLite eyebolt mount
Posted: Mon Sep 07, 2020 7:20 am
In the past, I've always friction-pinned my kayalite on the corner of my milk crate, but we have a Palm Harbor house for 4 nights in two weeks, and will be launching off the dock a couple times/day - this just wouldn't stay put.
Normally, drilling holes in your cooler isn't a great idea, but I did the math, and decided this would work.
I compared the thermal conductivity of stainless steel to both spendy fiberglass/resin eyebolts and tough to find, but inexpensive nylon.
Nylon won, 20% lower thermal conductivity than epoxy resin, and only 1/500th of stainless steel - so decided I could do this without a terrible heat sink to fry my cooler contents.
1/4-20 nylon eyebolt, 2" shank, and 1" seal washers - pumped my drilled hole with the good 3M white marine sealant.
finished the inside with another seal washer, bellville lock washer and polycarbonate nut - cropped the nylon thread foot with a jeweler's saw.
Over-tightening is a bad idea, because it deforms the ABS and compresses the cooler insulation, and the main reason I used the good sealant through the drilled block-insulation thickness.
BTW, began drilling from this side with a small bit until I could increase it to a 2+inch-long bit that would break outside, then finished the 1/4" pilot hole from the outside - the point, the ABS was really tough to get that first drill bite.
Works just like I planned
Since I was buying parts, put an alternate eyebolt in my sternwell slidetrax, using a harmony nut and washer stack (flat plus split lock-washer) to get the clearance I needed with 1/4-20 x 9/16 thread length.
Not sure what it is, but stainless shouldered eyebolts look like jewelry.
When rigging my Kestrel last year, replaced four accessible M5's with them.
Normally, drilling holes in your cooler isn't a great idea, but I did the math, and decided this would work.
I compared the thermal conductivity of stainless steel to both spendy fiberglass/resin eyebolts and tough to find, but inexpensive nylon.
Nylon won, 20% lower thermal conductivity than epoxy resin, and only 1/500th of stainless steel - so decided I could do this without a terrible heat sink to fry my cooler contents.
1/4-20 nylon eyebolt, 2" shank, and 1" seal washers - pumped my drilled hole with the good 3M white marine sealant.
finished the inside with another seal washer, bellville lock washer and polycarbonate nut - cropped the nylon thread foot with a jeweler's saw.
Over-tightening is a bad idea, because it deforms the ABS and compresses the cooler insulation, and the main reason I used the good sealant through the drilled block-insulation thickness.
BTW, began drilling from this side with a small bit until I could increase it to a 2+inch-long bit that would break outside, then finished the 1/4" pilot hole from the outside - the point, the ABS was really tough to get that first drill bite.
Works just like I planned
Since I was buying parts, put an alternate eyebolt in my sternwell slidetrax, using a harmony nut and washer stack (flat plus split lock-washer) to get the clearance I needed with 1/4-20 x 9/16 thread length.
Not sure what it is, but stainless shouldered eyebolts look like jewelry.
When rigging my Kestrel last year, replaced four accessible M5's with them.