Island Packet Chainplate Replacement

[a64pilot]

A couple have asked, so here is a close up of all but one chainplate.
As you can see very little corrosion, and I would buy into the idea that if they had been better maintained and sealant changed regularly that they would have gone many more years.
Remember these are 1987 chainplates. I am coming more and more to the conclusion that many break due to stress cracking corrosion, that is of course when something regularly put under a load corrodes much faster than a part that is not, that would explain how some fail as early as 15 yrs or so, but some seemingly last twice as long. If you often sail your boat then just like rigging I guess you need to change them earlier, the more and harder you sail, the sooner one will fail if I am right.

I did have one tie bar that "rotted" away, abought the best I can explain what the corrosion looks like. It looks like wood rot.

[Eder]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

I wasn't clear. By what to do about the teak, I mean what to do about varnishing the stuff.
I got an estimate of $9,000 to have it done while here, especially as it will last only about three years, that is way out of my budget.

I got my toerails done in LaCruz for $200 and all my interior soles done in Paradise village for $800.

You need to get your IP to Mexico lol.

The failure in sealant at deck level was invariably between the sealant & the stainless tang. Changing to Silpruf with proper prep should last 5 years.

[a64pilot]

I hope to find somewhere in the Caribbean that is cheaper, not sure where though

[brucebach]

Trinidad has some good metal workers/welders (from the oil & gas industry, as well as maritime business) and prices tend to be quite low.

[Eder]

I replaced my rear lifelines with 2 rows 316 ss tubing at Paradise Village PV for $1200...included a thickened spot for me to store my dingy motor...looks pristine & I intend to replace the rest of my lifelines in October.

otoh hauling out to redo my bottom will be about $850 and $50/lay day.

[model 10]

Originally Posted by Eder

The failure in sealant at deck level was invariably between the sealant & the stainless tang. Changing to Silpruf with proper prep should last 5 years.

AG planes are the best test bed for any sealant. You might think something new will work but after a few weeks of spraying, almost everything fails execpt Silicone. Some of the aerospace Polysulphides work but even 5200 would fail.
Just think, it's our food they are spraying.

[angelfish2]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

Ann, the varnish, actually Cetol is fully knackered, has to be removed and start over.
I do think the painting route is the way we will go as it is reversible if it's over varnish.
I'll start another thread about where in the Caribbean to have varnish done as far as expense is concerned. I know S Fl is not the place.

64pilot, a friend of ours with an IP31 uses Tropical Teak Oil by Starbright and it looks pretty good. I think he rubs it on a couple times a year and it doesn't take very long. It does have a dark look and not shiny like varnish.

I guess I'm a glutton for punishment because I'm in the process of varnishing our 32 with Epifanes. It is so beautiful, it makes me happy to look at it.

[a64pilot]

Originally Posted by Guy

AG planes are the best test bed for any sealant. You might think something new will work but after a few weeks of spraying, almost everything fails execpt Silicone. Some of the aerospace Polysulphides work but even 5200 would fail.
Just think, it's our food they are spraying.

We used mostly B2, the fuel tank sealant. Especially inside of the hopper, yes it too gets eaten away, but it last longer than anything else.
Never tried 5200 on an airplane, for one thing it's too runny. I have been tempted to use B2 on the boat, but have stuck with marine sealants, except the GE silpruf. I have it coming in tomorrow. Never used it before, it's apparently a silicone and I have always avoided silicone, however it's supposed to the thing for sealing chainplates according to many anyway.

[a64pilot]

Originally Posted by angelfish2

64pilot, a friend of ours with an IP31 uses Tropical Teak Oil by Starbright and it looks pretty good. I think he rubs it on a couple times a year and it doesn't take very long. It does have a dark look and not shiny like varnish.

I guess I'm a glutton for punishment because I'm in the process of varnishing our 32 with Epifanes. It is so beautiful, it makes me happy to look at it.

Yes, varnished teak is beautiful. I just don't want to maintain it.
However I do enjoy the way it looks on someone else's boat

[DeepFrz]

Isn't one of the problems with silicone the difficulty of getting future applications to stick to the parts? How will you address that situation?

[a64pilot]

Originally Posted by DeepFrz

Isn't one of the problems with silicone the difficulty of getting future applications to stick to the parts? How will you address that situation?

It's the penetration through the teak that you seal, not fiberglass.
But yes, that is why I have always avoided silicone on a boat, cause near as I can tell once you out silicone on fiberglass, you may as well have applied teflon .
But that's when people are bedding windows, hatches onto glass, not titanium in wood.
Reasoning is have heard it's better is it's flexible and remains that way.
I believe the usual problem is getting anything to adhere to polished SS, polished like a mirror, not much sticks and if there is any movement or even swelling or shrinking of the teak, then the bond is broken and you have a leak, and of course leaks don't get better.
However my Ti plates have been bead blasted, sort or like frosting glass, and do not have a polished finish, I believe sealant will bond to them very well, and this silpruf stuff is supposed to last a long time.

It's what the IP factory recommends now I believe

On edit, silicone sticks very well to silicone, even when it's old. Just silicone I believe will leave an oil behind in fiberglass so that even after you clean every tiny bit of it off, other things won't stick, like if you needed to do glass work

[Frankly]

Don't think silicone contamination is a concern as long as you keep using silicone.

A64,

When I dug out and replaced the 5200 with Silpruf I waxed the SS cover plates so I could easily remove them to top off/ examine the silicone in the future. Over the past 10 years I have checked them and the original Silpruf still appears bonded to the chainplates. I run a little bead around the tang (GE Silicone Home Depot variety) and replace the covers.

[geoleo]

What would be wrong with aluminum chainplates?? Type 6016 aluminum.

[a64pilot]

Video on chainplate replacement has been corrected. Everything is the same with the video, same Lady being interviewed etc, but at I think 2:37 it shifts to my boat where the plate is going in

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=beuZV_xdQrk

[a64pilot]

Originally Posted by geoleo

What would be wrong with aluminum chainplates?? Type 6016 aluminum.

First strength, to get the same strength, you would need much larger plates, then same issue with corrosion. Look at aluminum water and waste tanks as an example.
Really the amount of Titanium we are talking here is not all the much, the additional cost of the Titanium is likely offset by the additional labor and analysis required to go to a different metal, or carbon, or fiberglass.
One nice thing about the Titanium other than it being pretty much inert from the corrosion standpoint is it can be dimensionally identical to the 304 SS ones coming out, and be somewhere between three and four times as strong as the new OEM plates were.