Chainplate replacement

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Moderator: GreenLake

Chainplate replacement

Postby James4 » Sat Dec 03, 2022 6:55 pm

I took my new-to-me DS II out for its maiden voyage a month or so ago, in fairly light wind. We were on a starboard tack when I heard a sharp "ping" type of sound. We all wondered what it was. Then we heard a second one, and realized the sound came from the heads coming off the #10 bolts that hold the chainplates down. We gently tacked and limped back to the dock. My chainplates are held down with 4 #10 bolts, spaced exactly 1/2" apart. Can someone tell me if new chainplates from D&R Marine would require drilling new holes, or if the spacing is the same. I know from his website that his chainplates use two 1/4" bolts. I just don't want to weaken a critical part of the boat by drilling new holes. Let me know if I'm worrying about nothing. And any other related advice is appreciated. It was a nice sail, by the way, all 800 yards of it.
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Re: Chainplate replacement

Postby tomodda » Sat Dec 03, 2022 8:05 pm

Well, that sucks. And you mean the DS2 chain plates are not attached in any way to the SIDE of the hull? Mine are in the DS1. Strange that it's just bolted to the deck. But I can assure you that you'll be OK drilling new holes as needed. Provided that you epoxy the old holes
While you are at it, think of putting some extra fiberglass mat underneath, and perhaps a backer plate (flat bar of stainless). GreenLake can give you better guidance here, but my point is that you can easily re-enforce this deck area.
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Re: Chainplate replacement

Postby GreenLake » Sun Dec 04, 2022 9:34 pm

Tom, if I recall, the DSII has the chain plates (or at least a backing plate) tucked under the hull-deck joint. It's a completely different setup of what we have on the DS1.

As for James' question: best thing to do is give Rudy a call. He knows hist stuff and is super helpful. If you know what hole spacing you have, he should be able to confirm.

The way the DSII chain plates have been reinforced by various owners is to use wider/longer backing plates (or tubes, or round stock) underneath the hull-deck joint. With appropriately sized backing, there should not be much of an issue if James needs to drill a hole in a new place. The load should be distributed. However, I agree with filling redundant holes with epoxy and perhaps a layer or two of glass as needed. That's usually good practice.

In this case, if the load is well distributed, just filling any redundant holes with a bit of Marine Tex should be fine.

PS: stainless is subject to stress/crevice corrosion and not easy to check for impending failure. I bet that's what happened to those bolts.
~ green ~ lake ~ ~
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Re: Chainplate replacement

Postby James4 » Sun Dec 04, 2022 10:41 pm

Tom and Greenlake, thank you both for the helpful comments. I'll try to get Rudy on the phone tomorrow and order chainplates. I think his product comes with a backing plate, and the screws are much bigger than #10. Thank you, Jim
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