Chainplates

Chainplates

November 2018

We have known for some time that our chainplates are leaking.  Not gushing or dripping but leaking.  We could see water damage on the wood trim.  PULL AND INSPECT CHAINPLATES has been on our TO DO list for some time.  But it is an intimidating project. 

Chainplates are what hold up the rigging on a boat.  They are attached to the hull by various methods.  On some boats, they are hard to access and inspect.  We can see ours from above and below.  This is a good thing.  Thank you Caliber.  The only part we can’t see is the part that goes through the deck and the part against the bulkhead.  But despite being easy to see and access, it is still a daunting project. 

One out, on the far right is the next one in line

But we HAD to do it.  Tom marked the forward, port side wire stay tension with tape and then undid the forward port chainplate.  Next he loosened all the bolts below, inside the boat.  It didn’t pull right out.  That is probably a good thing.  Tom had to work at it but finally got it out.  It had surface rust and pitting but nothing too bad.  Tom worked at cleaning up the hole and I worked at cleaning up the chainplate itself.  Longtime cruisers Mark and Bruce both took a look at it.  Mark = “I would put that back in my boat, no worries.”  “ Me too” said Bruce.  Mark went further “If this was a race car I would put that back in.”  He used to work on race cars.   Bruce added “If this were my plane, I would put that back in.”  He used to fly.  No worries.  Okay.   

Chainplates

Tom ordered and brought down butyl tape in preparation of tackling this project.  It is like really sticky Play-dough that is smoothed out into tape.  Tom put several wraps around the chainplate and then re-inserted it back into the deck.  The butyl tape smashes down and smooches into all the places it needs to stick.  Tom then screwed down all the deck bolts and ones below as well.  This took some doing with a big bunch of mashed up butyl but that is the idea. 

Butyl tape

Then he did the did the forward starboard chainplate.  Same sequence.  Again, minimal surface rust and a tiny bit of pitting.  Nothing serious and NO cracks.  Cracks are bad, very bad.  Cheers to Caliber as these chainplates are well designed to hold up.  Beefy suckers.  In visiting with other cruising friends with similar age or older boats, nearly all have pulled their chainplates.  Some had to replace one or two.  A few people have re-bed theirs a couple of different times to keep the water out.  At least one Caliber owner and I suspect two (engineers who have to be working on SOMETHING on their boats) decided to replace all when one was a little suspect.  Okay – to each their own.  We were pleased at the condition of ours once we got into it and understood. 

We continued along, pulling chainplates, inspecting, cleaning up and re-bedding.  It usually took one day for each one.  Throw in some rain for added fun and we took nearly a week to complete.

See the grey butyl tape

See the grey butyl tape

On the aft chainplates on each side we did find a itty-bitty bit of wood rot in between the fiberglass.  I thumb nail size amount.  Tom dug it out and then filled it back in with epoxy.  Good as new. 

The white is the epoxy

It was comforting to know we had checked all the chainplates completely and re-bed them when on our first passage of this season we were pounding to windward.  Interestingly, the boat even sounded a tad different below during that sail.  It was probably in my head but it was a good feeling to have this checked off our list.