Organic Cleats

Bernd Kohler's easy to follow instructions on how to make 'organic cleats'.



http://www.duckworksmagazine.com/13/howto/organic/index.htm#.URLw3aVX18F


Nice, thank's Bernd.

 

I have no idea why he calls those "organic" the term should be "integral" because it is part of the main structure. Seems there are much simpler way to do it as well. One thing he does not point out, if you over load a cleat that is bolted to the surface and it fails, that kind of repair will be much easier to accomplish than if one of his "organic" integral cleats fail, which means you will pull the primary structure apart.

 

But if the through-bolt is made like a shear pin to fail at a certain point short of the structural strength of the hull or deck you would have a built in fail-safe with an easily replaceable bolt. How that would be accomplished I have no idea.

I suspect the rope that would fit on a cleat such as that shown on that hull structure would fail before that cleat-bolt or hull structure would.

 

designing for a fail-safe condition is not that difficult. the engine mounts on most commercial aircraft are designed to shear away before the wing rips open, same is true for the landing gear. both will shear off on a botched landing so the main structure stays together.

You design the part you want to fail to be 0.9 the strength of the rest of it. And than you have to test to make sure it works the way it was intended.

 

I like them. Well engineered, simple, good looking and no fasteners to contaminate a core. .

Would also be a good way to add handholds or a transom boarding step.

Another application might be for lifting points buried into the cockpit sole of a skiff with foam filled bilge. No chance of water ingress.

Thanks for posting...I always forget about simple ideas

 

I hope it's in the right spot! Seems like the hard way to make a cleat.