Can I weld my anchor nest to the bow of my boat?

Can I weld my anchor nest to the bow of my boat?

So you have made the choice to mount an anchor nest to the bow of your boat, great choice! But you would rather have it welded instead of drilling holes in your boat.

That is understandable, since it seems counter intuitive to drill holes in something that needs to float.

Maybe you are not able to access the underside of your bow to use the nut and bolt solution?

If you want to weld your anchor nest to the bow of your boat, you need to consider a couple of things. First and foremost, the anchor nest must be made out of the same family of materials that the bow of your boat is made of. If your boat bow is aluminum and your anchor nest is aluminum, you are off to a good start.

Next, you need to know if there is a finish on your anchor nest. If it is painted, you will need to remove the paint in the area you are going to weld and know that when welding, it will burn the paint in the area that is affected by the heat of the weld.

Once you have that worked out, you will need to know what is on or close to the underside of the bow of your boat. If there is some kind of flotation material, like foam, or electrical wiring. This may be melted or catch on fire from the welding process.

If you have determined that the underside of your bow is clear, and have worked out the paint or finish issue on your anchor nest, you can now proceed. But before you do, if you weld that anchor nest directly to the bow of your boat and want to change it out down the road because it got damaged or want to upgrade to a newer, better model, it could be a lot of trouble There is another solution.

You can weld on a plate to your bow that has threaded holes to match the pattern of the mounting holes on your anchor nest. If you opted for the Anchor Caddie anchor nest, there is an option for a weld on threaded plate, as shown below.