Trailering my 28' Express is a pain, but I would like to do it more often. It would be much easier with a bow eye. I see one example (posted by 'Ed' in Oct '08) but was wondering if you (or anyone) has a better solution? Ed's answer looks sturdy, but also a bit unattractive (sorry Ed). The bow eyes I find for sale are rated at up to 4800lbs but my single screw Express weighs ~7400lbs and I figure a 1.5X factor for safety. Ideas?

I did pick mine up by the bow eye. Often. It made it easy to move it around and put it on the trailer when I was working on it. Was well worth the trouble to build and weld it on. To make it strong enough you need to spread the stress over a big enough area, so you might need a gusset on the skin. I have a doubled up bottom so the bow eye has plenty to attatch to. May not be dainty, but it's stout and works good. My boat is meant to be safe and be used, thats what's important to me.
I can see that if you want to just tie it down and not put much strain on the eye, a stainless U bolt through the stem is fast and
easy but won't hold alot. If you want to have an eye that is stout, you will have to weld it on and spread the stress over a larger area. If you can find a good weldor this is not a big job, but then you have to think about repainting where you welded. You do like to work on your boat don't you ????

found a post 'bow eye install' where DiverDennis and SickLeave Bob were discussing this. I'll ask them for lessons learned. I will also move this discussion over to "How to" forum.

I did not tow my 28' often, so I didn't put a bow eye on it. I had a 4" wide cargo strap with a D ring at each end, about 60' long. I put it from the bow around the transom and up again on the other side, and hooked both D rings to the winch. I had loops in way of the cleats that held it all in place below the gunwale. I know this sounds stupid but it worked nicely and was easier to do using surplus stuff than adding an eye. I made it for the first tow after I bought the boat, and just kept using it.

DiverDennis did a fine job on his. So fine I copied it. I bought a 5/8" bow eye from the local marina and had welded inside a 24" bar of 1" aluminum stock. Then I ground the two seating pads out on the point of the bow just wide enough to accept the bow eye. Now it's just mark and drill the two holes needed and mount it.