Composite Chainplates Coming Together! (Pics)

[Chotu]

These are coming along, and I remember when we discussed chainplates and my boat in the past, not everyone really knew what a composite chain plate was. So I thought I would include pictures as they are built.

These were poured into a female mold. These are the core of the composite chainplates. Inside the core are 316 stainless bushings and a 316 pin that is held by cotter pins at the ends and can be pulled out if necessary. And they are wrapped in biax so the big sheets of glass can grab on nicely.


Since these are 100% epoxy, I didn’t work on these at all. My helper did these himself. And I think he did a great job! Take a look!

Next will be to shape and form them so they can sit on the deck, cut a hole in the deck, and wrap big sheets of biaxial and unidirectional around them and down onto the hulls.

[Chotu]

*wrap big sheets of TRIaxial and uni around them.

Says biaxial above

[otterhound]

Looks like they will do the trick, nice work.

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by otterhound

Looks like they will do the trick, nice work.

Thank you! Was hoping somebody might have some comments. But I guess this part is boring. Bonding them to the hull will probably be more interesting.

[ilCigno]

You are not using any carbon UD then? Why not?

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by ilCigno

You are not using any carbon UD then? Why not?

Just because the weight savings is trivial. Well, also following the plans as usual on this build.

The uni and triax attaching these to the hulls is standard glass from Vectorply

[ilCigno]

Following the plans is always wise. I asked because I know someone who is building a F39 trimaran. He uses carbon a lot, especially on high load construction items like chainplates. Take a look at his site:
www.fram.nl/float1.html
about halfway down the page you'll find 'Carbon fiber chainplate'.

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by ilCigno

Following the plans is always wise. I asked because I know someone who is building a F39 trimaran. He uses carbon a lot, especially on high load construction items like chainplates. Take a look at his site:
www.fram.nl/float1.html
about halfway down the page you'll find 'Carbon fiber chainplate'. Click on the photo for more.

Good old Fram!!

I was studying his build in 2010 or so learning tips and tricks to build mine. Did he start a new one?

You know him?

[Fore and Aft]

Chotu what I love about what your doing is no matter how well it's done it's not until you are out sailing and loading the rig up that you can be 100% certain that the job was well done.
I know as a boatbuilder plenty of times I have quietly crossed my fingers and hoped that nothing was missed during construction.
Cheers

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by Fore and Aft

Chotu what I love about what your doing is no matter how well it's done it's not until you are out sailing and loading the rig up that you can be 100% certain that the job was well done.
I know as a boatbuilder plenty of times I have quietly crossed my fingers and hoped that nothing was missed during construction.
Cheers

Isn’t that the truth?

The first time my boat was lifted in slings and put in the water I was a nervous wreck. I had already stressed tested it by lifting each corner individually and measuring for any deflection, but nothing really tests the structural integrity until you start moving the thing around on land.

I remember being pretty nervous about the rudders and cassettes also. But 1000 nautical miles later motoring, I stopped worrying. Ha ha

I’m a bit of an over perfectionist in structural stuff and navigation as you can see from my other threads, but, there is always that little fear in the back of your head. Until something is proven.

It’s funny. I’m not feeling that on these chain plates at all. I guess since everything else came out fine, I assume this well too. Plus it’s so over engineered that you could probably make a mistake and it would be fine. Hopefully my helper is not reading that. Ha ha these are critical when it comes to building them properly.

There’s a picture of a sister ship of this boat hanging from a crane by these two composite chainplates. A testament to the design I’m following.

[kayakerChuck]

Those are pretty!

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by kayakerChuck

Those are pretty!

Thank you!

[MicHughV]

Chotu,

I'm looking at your chainplates and while they look substantial, what I'm seeing is only a relative thin layer of glass over the tube that holds the pin to the rest of the structure.

That thin layer of glass over each end of the pin must take the entire load exerted on the pin.

'jes sayin'.....

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by MicHughV

Chotu,

I'm looking at your chainplates and while they look substantial, what I'm seeing is only a relative thin layer of glass over the tube that holds the pin to the rest of the structure.

That thin layer of glass over each end of the pin must take the entire load exerted on the pin.

'jes sayin'.....

God, no. Lol. As I explained in the first post, this is the core.

this is some chopped fiberglass slurry that was poured into a mold. And yes, there’s some biaxial over it just to kind of hold it together for now and give a nice bonding surface for the real laminates to bond to.

up next, this thing is shaped to fit properly on the deck, then the hole is cut in the deck, then many layers of triaxial and Uni directional are draped over this thing and onto the hull. Those layers are what provide the attachment to the hull, as well as all of the strength over the bushings you're talking about.

I guess I could have just copied and pasted that from the top post. But, just to reiterate.

nothing in this picture provides the strength of the chain plate. This is the core of the chain plate.

I will get some pictures of these parts in place and laminated to the hull when that takes place soon.

[MicHughV]

ok, that makes more sense...phew....had me worried there....