I can tell that you've put a lot of thought and effort into this repair. I appreciate your insights. Has the four tapped bolt padeye been tested in challenging conditions (high winds and big chop)?

This is a problem that many people have experienced. Others have commented on the process of how to replace these screws in the ancestor to this forum. I’ve done that job, it’s a pain.  On my own boat, I chose to replace the padeye, which is also a pain. However, I have heard complaints from multiple people that these padeyes are prone to fail, which leaves you with the mast down, needing a tow back to dock.  So, why do a painful job and keep the suspect part?  You choose.

I never found a replacement padeye with the same hole spacing, and I looked very hard.  Instead, I chose one with FOUR screws, not two, I’ll explain below.  I bent the base of the padeye to conform to the shape of the ama.  The padeye backing nuts are easily accessed int eh factory before they assemble the two halves of the ama, after that they’re just about impossible. Crummy design. Though-hull fittings on the Weta are generally backed with a steel plate, which is the case here.  Here are the steps I took: 1) cut the original bolts—the loose one has enough daylight to get a hacksaw or a Dremel cutoff wheel in there. Then wiggle it a bunch to get the other loose, or failing that, cut the head off.  You can get the debris out by tilting the ama.  2) Figure out the extent of the steel backing plate.  You can use a stud-finder, perhaps, or Superman X-ray vision, or just try drilling small holes where you want to place the screws, you may find as I did that the plate wasn’t centered behind the original padeye.  Resign yourself to the fact you’re going to have to patch empty holes before finishing this job.  The steel in the plate wasn’t very impressive (did the factory just use scrap from whatever?)—it was inconsistent, its hardness in some spots was high enough that I had to use cobalt drills to get through it, starting small, then getting to the final size for tapping.  3) Yes, you tap the holes, and forget that impossible idea of backing bolts.  They tapped fine, use metric, SAE, or whatever seems right for your padeyes.

4) Check fit, patch holes. I used epoxy/silica filler, then painted because I’ve never gotten gel coat repairs to have the right color, and I have a lot of repairs. 5) Install the padeyes using thread locking compound on the screws.  My experience has been fine with this fix, they have no tendency to wiggle loose and doubling the number of screws gets enough gripping power to make me not worry that there are no nuts.