I got tired of climbing on the bow every time i wanted to dock in order to tie lines onto the rail (which is a pain in the ass)

found them online for $34 each.
http://www.gemlux.com/catalog2010/cleats-cuttingedge

they are pull up and don't require drains.

here are some pics of the install

the ones that come with the boat aren't placed well. The front one needs to be further back and the back one ALWAYS catches the ski rope. One of my kids is designated as the rope monkey!

Nice job!

LOL... So true!
I like watching my wife fix the rope

Ned, did you support those from the inside too?

Uh Oh... now you are going to have to learn how to slip the eye of the dock line through a cleat like every other boat in the world.

P.S. I hate the factory cleats!!!

thanks!

No, the washers they send are pretty thick and they assured me there was no inner support needed.

i know, me too... they SUCK. From my measurements, these 6" ones will fit in place of the factory 8" cleats but i'd like to try and make the 8" pull up ones work. they are about 1/4" too wide to fit in the rear flush nordic locations. i'm thinking i might try anyway and just do a bit of surgery on edge of the cleat to make it fit.

Those definitely solve the functional issue, and look very nice.
I might have to do that too.

The first modification to my Rage was to get rid of the factory cleats. They were worthless. Replaced them with Eddie Marine billit ones that looked great and actually worked.

Looks good man! Did the Heats not come with any pop ups? I have some located a bit aft of your setup, I guess the PO did that up.

Mach- how much higher do the Eddie ones stick up over the stock ones?

no, the factory nordic cleats are the white sucky ones

the ones you have were a common install location by lakesideboat since they require drains. my buddy has them in the same spot as yours and they just aren't far enough forward IMO.

what size cleats were you able to fit in there from eddie marine? did you do pop ups or conventional?

you know, that might not be a half bad idea tho. and pretty easy to do w/ just some flat stock 1/8" thick aluminum from lowes. thats what i like about these cleats, you just drill holes, not like the traditional cleats w/ the button pop up where you have to cut an oval hole w/ a saw to fit all the recessed stuff down in there.