CONTINUOUSWAVE

My 1976 13-footer doesn’t have Norman pins at the stern. I have been thinking about installing stainless steel cleats at the stern.

Will installing stern cleats be wrong?

Is installing stern cleats smart?

Cberglund wrote:Will installing stern cleats be wrong?

I don't think there is any particular basis to make a judgement of right or wrong regarding adding cleats to the stern of a 13-footer. The only way I'd say adding cleats would be wrong is if the method used was awful and the results were hideous.

Cberglund wrote:Is installing stern cleats smart?

I don't think there is a basis to make a judgement of smart or dumb regarding adding cleats to the stern of a 13-footer. If there is presently no way to fasten a mooring line to your boat at the stern, then adding cleats sounds like a reasonable idea.

I added small stern cleats to my 1976 SPORT 15, mounting them on the inwale near the transom. I used them to attach a fender--there was no good place to attach a fender at the stern quarter--and for holding mooring lines for very short tie-ups in protected water. I didn't feel the cleats would be strong enough to hold mooring lines in a storm or rough seas. For strong mooring lines I used the stern towing-lifting eyes that are through-transom.



If you install cleats, they should be fastened into a part of the hull with embedded wood reinforcement. For my installation I was guided by the wood locating diagram for my hull. You can find similar diagrams for the 13-foot hull in the REFERENCE article for the 13-foot hull.

We added stern cleats aft on our 1981 Sport 13. At the time we kept the boat in a wet slip and due to several factors found that adding cleats was our best solution. We mounted them atop the gunwale a few inches forward of the transom. They look as though they are original and function well.

Why not the stern eyes?

Installing a cleat on a classic 13',15'17, is a bit like someone who owns a Porsche and pronounces it without the 'e'.

A c.1976 13-footer has the newer hull, and the transom never had Norman pins at the stern. Instead it had towing eyes at the stern. There was an option for a towing-lifting eye at the bow, and an alternative option for a Norman pin (on $4) at the bow,

The earlier 13-footers had no towing-lifting eyes and used Norman pins that when through the engine splash well wall for cleats with the pins oriented fore-and-aft.


A photograph from a Boston Whaler catalogue
showing a 13-footer tied to a dock with the stern line
using the towing eye.

Phil - Janis Joplin famously asked for a "Porschee". I recently saw her 356 Speedster on an episode of Motor Trend's "Chasing Classics" show with Wayne Carini. The Speedster has an incredible paint job. I always referred to my 1973 as just a "Carrera". What an incredible automobile. 140 MPH at only 6K RPM. These days 140 MPH is nothing.