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I decided to replace the cleats on my ‘06 Speedster 200 Wake. I’m pretty sure that the original owner had the boat docked off his house in the Florida Keys. I found the boat’s original invoice when I bought the boat with his address, so I Googled the address and found a real estate listing showing it as a waterfront house with a dock. Not a stalker, just trying to trace the boat’s path to me. I bought it from a guy in New Jersey who used it in salt water as well. I don’t know where he got it, so I am at least the third owner and more likely the fourth or fifth owner.
Either way, I was not confident that the boat’s cleats would come off easily as I thought that they would be seized to the hull. After all, they were pitted and had sharp pieces of chrome flaking off them. Oddly enough the bolts were only seized to the cleats and not the plates in the hull. One cleat popped off entirely with an impact driver and I got another 5 out of the 12 bolts off without incident. I drilled out the heads of the rest and unscrewed them with a pair of vice grips. However, I had an issue with the port side middle cleat. One of the bolts unscrewed but stopped right near the end. It also rattled when I turned it, which was peculiar. I thought I might snap it if I went further, so I stopped, pulled the cup holder and felt underneath. The bolt had a nylon lock nut on the end and a piece of solid wire attached to it that I had snapped off trying to remove it. I found the rest of the copper wire that went to the front of the boat, but didn’t follow it any further, since I was freezing my tail off. I found it odd because it’s a solid copper wire that you’d find in homes, not the braided copper wire associated with vehicles.
My question is: did these boat’s come from the factory with a ground wire to the cleat? If so, what is it’s purpose?
If not, I am going to have to follow where it goes to.
Either way, I was not confident that the boat’s cleats would come off easily as I thought that they would be seized to the hull. After all, they were pitted and had sharp pieces of chrome flaking off them. Oddly enough the bolts were only seized to the cleats and not the plates in the hull. One cleat popped off entirely with an impact driver and I got another 5 out of the 12 bolts off without incident. I drilled out the heads of the rest and unscrewed them with a pair of vice grips. However, I had an issue with the port side middle cleat. One of the bolts unscrewed but stopped right near the end. It also rattled when I turned it, which was peculiar. I thought I might snap it if I went further, so I stopped, pulled the cup holder and felt underneath. The bolt had a nylon lock nut on the end and a piece of solid wire attached to it that I had snapped off trying to remove it. I found the rest of the copper wire that went to the front of the boat, but didn’t follow it any further, since I was freezing my tail off. I found it odd because it’s a solid copper wire that you’d find in homes, not the braided copper wire associated with vehicles.
My question is: did these boat’s come from the factory with a ground wire to the cleat? If so, what is it’s purpose?
If not, I am going to have to follow where it goes to.
