I went with 6" only because I wasn't 100% confident that I was cutting directly behind it...figured a little room to wiggle my arm up or down as necessary would be prudent. That said, if I had it to do over, I'd have gone 4" and cheated toward the top of the compartment, for what little difference that would have made.
Note the relatively good condition (relative to the rusty crap that was inside) of the portion of the u-bolt that was outside of the boat...And the sawzall is not my go-to cutting tool, but it seemed best for this application. It's actually #4 behind Oxy/Acetylene, plasma cutter, and grinder 8)
Then I cut a piece of anodized aluminum as a big backing washer and installed the new one. Pie-plate installed and done
Quote from: "SaltH2OHokie"Then I cut a piece of anodized aluminum as a big backing washer and installed the new one. Pie-plate installed and done DID you use any filler between the aluminum plate and bow of boat? That would reduce or eliminate any high stress points.I used thickened cabisol, it is never coming out or moving one bit.