Crew,
Recently there’s been some discussion on bar hole wear. Especially on the free style bar, but also on other bars when used close to the stopper a lot, oblong wear patterns can be found.
I have figured out a method to insert a stainless steel eyelet that you can do yourself, provided you have a steady hand and a few more tools than average.

Note that this fix is provided by me on a personal basis and by no means as a recommendation from Ocean Rodeo - apply this information at your own risk!

The stainless eyelet is made from a stock M12 nut, AISI 304 (A2 in Europe) grade will do, but if you can get AISI 316 (A4) grade steel use that. As stainless steel and aluminum don’t go together very well in sea water due to galvanic corrosion, a simple trick is applied to galvanically separate these two materials: a piece of mesh is pressed between the aluminum and the steel.

I have used a wee lathe to turn down the nut to Ø18. Using a press drill and a file also works. Keep the outer surface course for the adhesive to grab.
Saw the eyelet to 6mm length, and file the inner edges to a semi-circle R=3mm. Follow with sand paper and polishing paste.

Use a Ø12mm drill bit to remove the thread
Saw the eyelet to 6mm length, and file the inner edges to a semi-circle R=3mm. Follow with sand paper and polishing paste.

With a Dremel and a tool bit like this, ream the worn bar hole.

You can file down the protruding edge of the bar hole first, and from the top of the EVA foam, go in about 6mm. Make the hole diameter about Ø18.5, and make sure you’re centered with the bar. The glue residue on my bar is from an earlier experiment, don’t take notice.

Grab a piece of mesh (I cut this from the repair set of my dry suit, sorry OR) and cut it to about 4x4cm. Fit the eyelet like this. There should be no metal-to-metal contact between the stainless steel and aluminum!

Clean everything with denatured alcohol, and mix some 2 component adhesive. While a good epoxy or PU adhesive will probably do, my favorite is 2 component MMA (methacrylate), available from many different brands - a popular one is Plexus from ITW.

Fit the eyelet like shown, make sure there’s plenty of adhesive in the gaps so you can cut/file/sand down everything nicely once it’s cured.

Cured and cut, not the cleanest looking fix but it will surely work.
One nice thing about it, the stainless eyelet will also wear, but by the time it’s getting bad, it can be pressed out and a new one can be inserted - if the rest of the bar is still in a condition to make that worthwhile.

If you have questions just post them down here.
cheers,
Rudo

I love good old fashioned gumption, will power and knowledge.

Thanks Rudo!

Gumption - Indeed my brother, the mesh separator is inspired by how they pack bottles of Scotch!

Nice job Rudo,

But how-many people do you think can fix this ? OR should come with a simple solution.

What i think is strange that you guys keep talking that the wear is coming from riding with the stopper.
I have two bars with the wear but don’t use a stopper.
I keep saying the metal is just to soft.

Well I did this to! And that with only one hand! hehe.

Got a few tips and tricks from Rudo and started with sweaty and shaking hands on my bar mod..

It’s not that hard to do it, you just need to take your time and do it carefully.

I did just what Rudo told in this topic. And after a few times on the water it’s still stuck like a duck!

with the glue and the fabric

After the filing and sanding it is silky smootthhhhhh

Any chance an SS ring might be used instead of nut? That would certainly reduce the amount effort needed to fix this bar wear issue. Hopefully, there would be a manufactured ring with the proper ID and OD for this application.

Hi, you could try with a ring, if you find something pls share!

thought about that too. And indeed let us know if you can find a standard product for this solution.
A little update. My bar is stull running smooth and the depowerrope is still at 1 piece!

thank you very much

So, here is my attempt at fixing the bar hole wear. I did ream the hole out but chose to use a SS 1/2” ring. I ruffed the O.D. on the ring in hopes of improving the bond. I have not used it yet but will report back when I do. Not all of us have metal lathe so I thought this standard SS ring may be a good alternative.

wow that’s looking (proverbially) sharp!
I’m sure this works and it’s a lot easier to do with a standard ring.  Can you share the ring wire Ø with us?

I should have been more specific. Stainless Steel ring: O.D. 0.720, I.D. 0.535, DIA 0.92. I would guess that the nominal size is 3/4"OD, 1/2” ID.
I actually received them from JZ for the Fusion bar safety line modification.

I will be more diligent next time in documenting the process. One thing I did different was to use fiberglass cloth to bed the SS ring into. I used a two part epoxy. West System: 105 resin with a 205 hardener.

is work with any type?

I’m back from Kiting on the Baja and can report that my bar fix with the Stainless Steel ring worked just fine. Now I have to fix my other bars. thanks to Elrudo for the thoughtful process.