Hi Dave!

Not sure this is what you're looking for, but I did not see any responses to your post, so I will share MY solution.

I did not want eyes, or cleats on the wood to preserve the lines and finish, so I did not put any, at all. I do have scuppered inwales. so I attach my lines this way. This gives me a lot of flexibility, as I litteraly have attachment points along the entire length of the boat. It is not a problem while trailering, either. I put a microfiber rag on the bow, and over the rails with a strap. Everything stays put on short/long trips, alike with no marring of the finish. I attach bumpers on the inwales, too when needed. On boats the size of these S&G, I don't find the attachments needed, but that is my limited and personal experience.

Cheers,

Eric

Here's an attempt at posting two pictures, showing attachment points on rails, and how I trailer it, without eyes or cleats:

https://www.flickr.com/gp/58626394@N02/f904XM

Eric

Hello Dave,

I too have a Chester Yawl in the making, and I don't fancy cleats & eyes at bow and quater knees either. My main concerns are (in ascending importance) damaging the boat, or my car, or myself, or my wife, when handling the boat.

I'll not have the inwales, which leaves me without proper attachment points for lines. Having proper attachment points should be considered a safety precaution, so it's not an option to skip this task.

Since the breasthook is quite large, I'll drill a hole of approx. 1.5 to 2" right in the center, and give it a roundover with the router. For the aft, I consider adding some kind of eye (hinged pad eye most likely) at the transom centerline, where deck and transom meet. This will also be conveneint for attaching strap lines when car topping (which will be my transport method for the next years).

BR

J

Here is a link to a photo of my Skerry's bow fitting:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/DetEE9ZcgbvRjEBj6   

Nice set up there, Jackie.

With a solid fitting on the outside of the bow like that, you can use a short bow line secured to that to attach to an anchor rode without having to have a big cleat or chocks up there.  Just pay out the anchor rode as needed, and then roll a sheet bend with the bow line (which you'll have pulled into the boat with you) into the anchor rode, make sure it's secure, and pay out some more rode until the bow line takes the strain.  Use whipping or zip ties to secure any loose ends if the knot is going to be in the water very long so it can't get up any rope tricks to untie itself and leave you drifting off to Pernambuco or some other place to which you don't want to go.  Worked okay on a Highlander we once had with no deck hardware whatsoever.

.....Michael

   Thank you all for your input on how you addressed thing up your boats. I do not have the extra rail. I have considered no fixture but drilling through the breasthook. For those eyes outside the box - is getting a solid mount of the eye a challenge?

Lines rigged through reasonably sized holes in the breasthook and quarter knees should be an okay, heck, even elegaant, solution.  When handling a small boat like this at a dock, one is almost always working from above the boat, so a bow line rigged to a fitting outside the bow and below the rail might actually be less satisfactory.  For towing or winching up onto a trailer, the bow fiting would work better, but I don't know that either of those situations is really going to happen with a Chester Yawl.  It's a hundred pound boat, not a three ton yacht, after all.

Whatever you do for anchoring, you do have to avoid having a line under load chafing on the rail and being able to slide around and change position on you, so a bow eye could help with that, as I described above.  If one isn't going to anchor under high stress for a long period of time, it ain't so important.

.....Michael