Chain Plate Repair / Replacement for a Force 50

[yacht_planb]

My starboard aft chainplate has a crack in it at one of the 45 degree bends. My rigger recommended removing it and repaired. No doubt after seeing the crack it needed work.

After removing it last night, I saw that it had already been repaired on the inside of the plate at the stress/cracked location. This is one large\heavy chainplate with lots of stainless steel in it. It has three spots at the top for the rigging to attach to. It is approximately 2' long and probably weighs 40 lbs. It fastens to the outside of the hull.

Originally we were thinking that an extra plate would be welded on top of the original plate, once the crack was repaired, effectively doubling the thickness of the plate. When completed from about where the wood rail meets the plate down to atleast the first bolt hole would be doubled thickness.

Here is the question, I am doing all the R&R for each plate so would it be better to just have new one's made up or better to repair these and double the thickness as described?

Has anyone else replaced the aft set of chainplates yet? How much were they? Any thoughts or opinions from a welder or someone who has done this before?

[Alan Brown]

I was dis-masted a few years back by an inattentive bridge tender in Ft. Lauderdale. My standing rigging held up very well, but 3 chainplates snapped when the mast came down. Upon examination, all 3 were corroded from the inside out. There was no way to tell their condition short of having them x-rayed.

To make a long story short, I replaced all the chainplates, standing, and running rigging on my 1981 Hunter 30. As they say, "In for a penny, in for a pound". The guys at the boatyard made up the new chainplates in their machine shop and the cost was affordable. Bedding them properly was the hard part.

My vote is for replacing them, not beefing them up.

[Stillraining]

I second that.

[barnakiel]

I replaced chainplates in our boat while the old ones still looked great. The boat was 25 y.o. then. Upon inspection, the old ch-plates were found to have some pitting on the undersides.

The price of new plates was way below my expectations - I think because the place we had them made had excellent tools and there was very little man-hours involved in machining (plates cut from a flat bar).

So, from my experience - replace, do not fix.

b.

[swagman]

I'll be the fifth to suggest manufacture of new chainplates.
Go for it.
JOHN

[Sailmonkey]

While our chainplates are small and simple compared to yours, I made ours in the garage for less than $100 in materials. Too me not to replace, even at twice the cost for one doesnt make sense when compared to the mast.

[jrd22]

Definitely replace, do not repair.

We replaced all of our chainplates at 20 years of age. We made our own out of 316SS flat bar that we bought at Alaskan Copper and Brass in Seattle. Hopefully yours will be a standard thickness and width, ours had to be milled down from 2" wide to 1 3/4" which added expense. We had a machine shop drill all the holes exactly matching the old plates, if you have access to a good drill press you can do this yourself. Having everything polished to a mirror finish was more expensive than I expected, and it was difficult to find a place that would do it, but we finally found a shop in Auburn, WA that did a great job.

[s/v Jedi]

When the new plates are finished, have them electro-polished. I am wondering why not electro-polish the bolts and nuts?

cheers,
Nick.

[yacht_planb]

Thanks for all the quick feedback. Anyone know a good metal fabrication shop in South Florida they would recommend?

[s/v Jedi]

Originally Posted by yacht_planb

Thanks for all the quick feedback. Anyone know a good metal fabrication shop in South Florida they would recommend?

I have used Metalworkx in Ft Lauderdale who delivered top quality. Ask for a quote.
They will not electro-polish automatically so ask or bring the plates elsewhere after manufacture for that.

cheers,
Nick.

[bh100014]

I am looking at redoing the chain plates of a Spindrift 43. The chainplates are all encapsulated in fiber glass, so replacing them will be a major job. One alternative is to leave the existing plates as backing plates, and add new plates outside of the hull. Even that is not simple, as the extensive teak rails will need to be notched out etc. Has anyone done something like this? Any idea what it might cost?

Ben

[zeehag]

yacht [planb--you have a taiwanese built boat ..>lol...like mine--the 2 aft doubles are cracked on my boast--there is no way i would consider having them welded as that is a weakspot crying out for problems---please have new ones made--is a lot easier and cheaper in the long run---the fasteners are also a factor---as yours truly is a taiwanese boat--then the ss is not as good as should be and requires replacement--if not---well....what can i say--this is a problem inherent in the taiwanese boats---i know is in mine--i have researched with leaky teaky yacht club, formerly formosa owners group in yahoo groups---there is a lot of info there...goood luck--please post what you have decided to do-----spindrifts have similar problems--also try the leaky teaky yacht club!!

[bh100014]

Thanks for the advice!
I would like to know typically what's the cost (labour & material) for changing the chain plates for such boats...any idea?

Ben

[zeehag]

depends on the fabricator you find--shop around and look for salvaged boats lol--used parts are always cheaper lol sometimes even just as good if the chainplates were changed out before the reason for the salvage happened---look in kemah tx--there are many of our kind there lol...see our site--the leaky teaky yacht club on yahoo groups and in facebook...someone has done it and knows--i am still pending....gooodluck and keep posted!!!! i found the forward ones off a wooden garden design 41---happens!!! only ones i need are the doubles for main backstays and mizzen shroud.....oops--also factor in the fasteners....forgot that part lol--they are probably rusty also...

[yacht_planb]

Well I took a long look at my four aft chain plates (My boat has 5 per side).. and finally came to the conclusion for the reason it cracked. As it turns out the chainplates do an abrupt 45 degree angle about 8 inches below the toe rail to clear the mahagony railing. On all the chainplates that were ok, there is a trianglular block of wood that sits between the chain plate and the hull. This keeps the chainplate from flexing. On the one chainplate that was cracked there was no block of wood. Apparently the PO didn't think it was important, and I never thought much about it until recently. ;-(

With the block missing, it allows the chain plate to flex back and forth (mind you that these chainplates are like 3/8" thick and abot 22" long.

Anyway the price for new chainplates like these to be made up are $1200. each. I will post some pic's later..