I bought a 12' 40 year old aluminum sailboat. It pretty much is like an aluminum row boat, though I hope it is better made than those. The sides are about 0.04" and the strip that connects them is 0.09"; with rivets about every 1.1".
The bow eye was part of a casting on the top of the bow, but it has broken off; and I want to install a bow eye.
I am planning on drilling two holes for a 3/8" U-bolt, packing the area around the bolts (on the inside...) with epoxy putty to spread the stress out, and then snugging the nuts/washers up against the epoxy putty.
Does that seem like a reasonable plan? I will be mooring it so it need a bow eye, but I sure don't want to rip the bow out in a storm.