I would like to add an ice chest to my skiff for seating option and have some ice chest tie-down hardware. I reached out to Cayo, asking how deep I can drill into the deck without going all the way through the floor, but they didn’t answer.
Anyone have any idea of how thick a typical a deck is? I’m think between a 1/2” and an inch??
Idk so don’t take this as the gospel, but I’d be a lil leary of drilling into a core built boat. Most are built with 2-3 layers of 10oz glass over a 1/2”-3/4” foam. Again I’m not familiar with how the Cayo is built, so I may be off base a bit, but I’d think There’s got to be another way, and I’m sure someone will chime in shortly with a solution.
Thats a slick looking boat, Like MikeCockman already said Id be concerned with the strength of the attachment depending on what the core material is. You might be able to remove one of your push pole holders and check the length of the fasteners, chances are the deck and sole are the same material.
Either way I love the photo.
This type of situation is called blind fastening since you can’t see the inside of where you’re drilling and not able to use through bolted fasteners… Typically, the best installation will involve toggle bolts - available at most hardware stores, but…. For a boat you’ll want “marine grade” which means stainless steel. Go to any well equipped marine hardware store and ask for “Togglers” (or you can find them on E-Bay). Before you attempt an installation with them use a couple of pieces of scrap to practice with. Once you’ve got it down they’re easy to work with and a foam core deck is not an issue with them (they spread out the force and will be very secure). Any time you see a seat pedestal secured to a deck - togglers were used… You can also use them to re-secure a loose center console or anchor points for a cooler installation - ask me how I know…
I typically recommend small mounting pucks glassed to the deck/floor and appropriate length screw to avoid punching through the factory skin/core. I shape, bond, glass, gelcoat/paint the pucks from a high density pvc that has a 200lb screw retention strength with a nice bevel as to not create a trip hazard if the accessory isn’t in use. These little pucks also raise the penetration above deck level further reducing and water intrusion even though the holes don’t go into the factory laminate and are into pvc.
@JCDesigns is on point here. Add a puck or block of wood, or something! What he is describing is the best alternative.
Front deck, gunnels, and rear deck are probably 5/8”-3/4” thick. If you want a cooler as a front casting platform. drill through the deck and thrubolt the cooler tie downs with large washers on the bottom side, being very careful not to over tighten. Kenndy marine makes some nice cooler tie downs. If you want a mid cockpit cooler secured follow JC designs recommendation and glass 3/8th-3/4” thick pucks and then fasten into those. A camp chair/cooler in the cockpit really doesn’t need to be tied down if you are just looking for infrequent passenger seating. I put seadeck, or thin foam/rubber on the bottom of the the camp chair feet to keep the chair from scuffing up the nonskid when if shifts around a little when it gets overly choppy.
Adding to JCDesigns. I use 1/4” g10 FR4 for mounting fuel tanks and other things on my skiffs. Glued then glassed over as he said. You can router a radius on the edges if wanted. It is extremely hard made out of glass and epoxy. That said you need to tap it to your thread size and use coarse machine screws. I use 3/4” length and am careful when drilling not to go all the way through the core under the puck by marking my drill bits or using a depth fitting. Nothing is pulling out of it. Best option if you can’t through bolt. I buy mine from Defender Marine online.
Hope they used 5200 
I would not blindly drill into the core.
For my boat, (which was homemade so I knew exactly how thick the core was.) I used a 3” hole saw to cut out the top skin and then with a chizzel, pulled all the foam out, leaving just the bottom skin. I bolted the carriage bolt to some solid glass pucks that I made. (same size as the hole) and then epoxied the pucks into the hole. Then I glassed over the whole thing and re-gel coated. Sorry I don’t have a picture of the puck. With the carriage bolts, I swap between cooler, chair, and a mount for my pirogue.
Drilling and taping the carriage bolt was the hardest part. SS does not cut well.
You can also see that I have 4 on my bow that also are used for strapping down a cooler / casting platform / the front of my pirogue.
Thank you all for the advice.
I had definitely planned to excavate some coring and backfill hole with epoxy. A buddy of mine suggested I drill hole then attached one of those little 90deg allen wrenches to drill. Insert the wrench into the hole then bore out the coring. Backfill with epoxy etc. I think I’ll start with a 1/2” deep hole and go from there.
Weeks later and I still haven’t drilled any holes yet…can’t muster the courage lol
This is the best way if you don’t want to have to do glass and gelcoat work. It just makes sense! I post a mini write up with photos of this on the other site.
The deck of that boat is not strong enough to screw into to hold a cooler.
As Jc said either mount a puck on top or cut a hole and insert a coosa puck flush
