Greetings all,
I had my 97 Challenger 1800 docked over an EXTREMELY busy/choppy weekend at the lake. (Either good or bad) I was using the bow eye to moor the front of the boat to the dock because it is 17 times faster to clip and unclip the bow eye when you are frequently using and docking. Regardless, I now know to spend a little more time and use the cleats now.
Has anyone ever had to replace a broken bow eye on a 97 Challenger? For the life of me, I can not dream up a way to access the inside of the hull (the nuts and plate of the bow eye). I am a bigger guy (225 lb, 6') so I can not crawl into the keel through either one of the "storage compartments" in front of the glove box/driver console. My only thought was to drill an access hole in the front most "anchor storage" compartment under the bow seat. I have NO problem doing this, but I would hate to hack something up if there is another way to access the bow eye hardware. Thank you very much. This forum has already been a fountain of helpful information for a Sea-Doo newbie!

97 Challenger 1800 Bow Eye Replacement
Started by pango, Jul 08 2011 08:52 AM
2 replies to this topic
#1
Posted 08 July 2011 - 08:52 AM
#2
Posted 13 July 2011 - 04:14 PM
Is there not a way to get in there if you remove the bow seat?
Need a shop or part manual for your boat or PWC? Join the SDSB Club here, http://seadoosportboats.com/join and download them here, http://seadoosportboats.com/manuals
Want to spread the word about SeaDooSportBoats.com and sport some official SDSB Gear? See what we have to offer here, http://seadoosportboats.com/gear
Want to spread the word about SeaDooSportBoats.com and sport some official SDSB Gear? See what we have to offer here, http://seadoosportboats.com/gear
#3
Posted 14 July 2011 - 09:49 AM
Thanks Kevin,
There was no way to remove anything other than the foam seat back (and naturally the seat pad that you can sit on) which didn't provide access to the nuts. I will share what I did find. You must drill an access hole through the VERTICAL portion of the "anchor locker"/"bow seat". I wound up drilling two holes because I tried the horizontal surface by the drainage hole first. This only led to a fiberglass hull reinforcement "frame" thing. (pardon my lack of proper terminology) The second hole I drilled was vertical, as if you were going straight behind the bow eye and about 3-4 inches below the lip that the seat pad rests on. I used a 3.5 inch hole saw. I am including photos
020.JPG 1.88MB
7 downloads
022.JPG 1.04MB
6 downloads.
There was no way to remove anything other than the foam seat back (and naturally the seat pad that you can sit on) which didn't provide access to the nuts. I will share what I did find. You must drill an access hole through the VERTICAL portion of the "anchor locker"/"bow seat". I wound up drilling two holes because I tried the horizontal surface by the drainage hole first. This only led to a fiberglass hull reinforcement "frame" thing. (pardon my lack of proper terminology) The second hole I drilled was vertical, as if you were going straight behind the bow eye and about 3-4 inches below the lip that the seat pad rests on. I used a 3.5 inch hole saw. I am including photos


1 user(s) are reading this topic
0 members, 1 guests, 0 anonymous users