Tracking Fins - lag bolted or thru bolted?

[cdarrenp]

Short version of the story is that one of the bolts/screws on my front tracking fin fell out (not sure how). Thankfully, we got it on a hydro hoist and was able to scrounge up a similar size bolt to stop the leaking, however, the bolt got to a point were it would just spin and never completely tighten. I'm trying to confirm if the fins are lag bolted or through bolted for my year/boat. I found some old threads that state if the hull ID is greater than 4311 they are lag bolted. I have a 06 20V with hull ID TIXY9691C606. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[wired1236]

I have the same boat but won't be much help. I've never had the tank out to find out but I would find it hard to believe they are lag bolted. Everything else on the hull is a through-bolt/ nut.

[boardman74]

I am 99.9% sure they are thru bolted.

[Z1Fan]

I've nevver been at the tige factory ,but was at the nautique factory and there's are thru bolted , but give tige and call and ask !!

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[cdarrenp]

Update... I removed the 3 remaining bolts from the front tracking fin and found them all to be cut-down (see pic). I removed 1 screw from the rear tracking fin and it was the same. This leads me to believe that they are lag bolted. With that said, I don't have much confidence in these short little 3/4" bolts holding the fins (the front two screw-in but never fully tighten). Although this is how it appears they came from the factory (seems a bit cheesy to me). I bought the boat used but I have no reason to believe that tracking fins have been previously damaged and/or replaced.
tige_bolts.jpg

[dingleberry]

Although this is how it appears they came from the factory (seems a bit cheesy to me).

Just a thought...if you impact something with the fins (large log, rock, etc.), ripping out four thru-bolts with nuts and washers or backing plate would probably do a whole lot more fiberglass damage than if it were to just rip out four lag bolts. It may possibly be that it is intended to be a weaker connection than the maximum possible.

[talltigeguy]

Isn't that a sales tactic that some people use? I was thinking that I had heard some people poking fun at malibu because their tracking fins are just screwed into the hull, but most other manufacturers are through bolted.

Cdarrenp: It may be tough to tell from the pictures, but those bolts look like they are broken off, not cut. When you removed them, is there still a section of bolt in the hull? The bummer is that I think in order to fix this, you are going to have to remove the floor and then the gas tank.

[ericinmich]

I agree, they look to be broken or twisted off. I can't see the depth but if you estimate the thickness of the fiberglass fin plate I'd say they aren't much deeper than those two would be. Maybe they were screwed into a backing plate with 5200 to keep them tight.