Towel rack on wood panel

I'm embarrassed on this one. A towel rack ripped out of the wall in my kids' bathroom, so I went to do the easy task of putting it back up. There is wooden paneling, almost like a wainscotting, over the sheetrock, and the hole in the wood has gotten too big to screw anything into it. I've tried to use a longer screw with plastic drywall anchors, even tried to fill the hole with that Great Stuff foam in the hopes it will dry so solid I could get it up that way. Each time it's failed and now I have a mess. I don't want to cut out part of the wood & replace it so I can get screws into it, but if that's my only option I'll do it. Any better thoughts I'm missing?

Thanks,
Andy

 

Don't know how much room you have but you could glue a wood rosette onto the wall... to cover your big hole. Once the glue has cured you could then mount the towel rack onto that. Otherwise your only option is probably to use a long bolt and large toggle to fasten your mounting plate to the drywall.

 

Thanks very much for that idea. I’ll try it. I don’t know how thick they are, or how it will look, but I’ll give it a try.

 

These are the toggles I'm referring to.

https://images.thdstatic.com/product...882-e1_100.jpg

 

Or drill the hole out larger and glue in a piece of wood dowel, sand and finish and your back to good wood to attach,