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I tore the bow eye out of my 13 footer, becuase of a flexing tilt mechanism on my trailer, coming home from a 100 mile trip. Here is my photobucket repair pages. Just scroll down for a pictorial of how I repaired it to look better than new. I bought a stainless threaded rod at Home Depot to do the repair along with a mahogany donut that I made. I don`t know if this will help you on your 18 footer, but it might give you some ideas.
http://s27.photobucket.com/albums/c19...%20repair/