I would manchine a solid bar of aluminum about a foot long
with a slip fit and center it where the new bolt hole will go.

Drill and put

in a new bolt.

Paul Lamar

So, Paul, does this mean that you have determined the existing
material won't take the load? Solid seems pretty hefty!
Peter


The big problem is the hole through the existing tubes.
Hard to calculate the stress around those holes.
Aluminum cracks easily from the vibration of the float
pounding through the waves.

Best to be safe as possible and use a solid bar.

Given a 1.75 OD the solid bars will weigh about 2.88 pounds each.
You might get a pound out of them by drilling a one inch hole
with a long drill or buy .25 wall tubing 1 3/4 OD. Very hard
to find. They would then weigh about  1.41 pounds each.
That would be as low as I would go.

If you drill a one inch hole through the 1 3/4 bar
you might save .94 pounds per bar. That will give you a .375
wall. It is up to you. I don't know how much you want to
spend on the machine shop. Do you have a lathe with a
2 inch hole in the spindle?  In that case you could get
fancy and taper the long holes and save another few ounces. On
the other hand 4 pounds out of your new payload is not that
big of a deal. Go on a diet and lose 4 pounds :)

Paul Lamar

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