E38 Chainplate U-Bolts and Replacements

[Tomarland]

U-Bolts

If you take or send one of the U-bolts to Garhauer they can make these for you. I had 2 made for $100-150. I can't remember the exact price. The alternative is Rig Rite, back east. I ordered one from them for $280. So Garhauer is your best choice. I am in southern Calif, King Harbor so it was just as easy to drive out to Garhauer. You may have to cut the old u-bolts off as they have a tendency to gall.

 

[Tomarland]

U-Bolts

I have 2 of these bolts. If you want we (you) can send this to Garhauer to copy. I will take them a couple of weeks, depending on how busy. You can reach me at tomarland@aol.com

 

[footrope]

removing u-bolts

The way I did it was to cut in the middle of the piece above decks with a cutting wheel and then twist them out using a pipe wrench. However, due to the close proximity to another u-bolt or the side of the cabin, you may need to adjust where to cut or make two cuts to take the middle section out and leave room to turn each leg. I found that a Stillson wrench is helpful to get some of them out because the regular pipe wrench didn't bite before running out of swing room. It's an ordeal but it can be done without damaging anything but your hands.

 

[Odelay]

Thanks guys
so what about the flat plate? How'd you get that off the deck? I heard they are bonded to the glass with 5200?

 

[footrope]

Thanks guys
so what about the flat plate? How'd you get that off the deck? I heard they are bonded to the glass with 5200?

The plates will come right off the deck unless they were recently installed.

 

[Tomarland]

Plate removal

Thanks guys
so what about the flat plate? How'd you get that off the deck? I heard they are bonded to the glass with 5200?

The plate should come up with constant pressure even if they used 5200. Once the bolt is removed the plates, top and bottom should be easy to remove. Make sure to use your halyards to stabilize the mast once all the stays are loosened and taped aside so they don't scratch the mast, etc.

 

[Odelay]

I got one out intact. The backing plate is free. But I can't get the rod out without cutting the teak and making a mess. Is just replacing the U bolts enough? Or do I need to pull the plates out too?

 

[Loren Beach]

YMMV, as they say, but my experience has been that EY did provide a way to access the interior rod ends.
On our model I had to remove the teak plugs on both settee backs and then unscrew and remove those teak panels. We also varnished them while they were out, and when put back in I never put in new plugs since the cushion backs cover all the attachment screws anyhow.

At the top, we have a small teak trim piece that is secured with a couple of screws, and that was just to conceal the hole in the head liner. So, access is not really simple, but it's not too complex either.
Good luck,
Loren

 

[footrope]

On the 38 I didn't have any interior wood, except trim, that was in the way of removing the rods or backing plates. Good picture of the u-bolt. I don't see much powder from aluminum to steel contact. Most of my u-bolts were basically frozen in place due to that type of corrosion and unscrewing them from above the deck was necessary. They would not move by driving them out. The 5200 was brittle and broken down on all of them.

It's your choice, but I think it would be a good idea to inspect the backing plates. Yours might be in better shape, but after 35 years mine had various amounts of powdery corrosion dust and were significantly pitted on top, primarily where they were against the underside of the deck. I had the yard gently bead-blast the corrosion away and then I put a coating of epoxy over the pitted areas, to seal them and bring them back to a flat profile. My backing plates were drilled and machined for the direction the rod pointed and for the mushroom head of the rod. Since they were so thick, I just cleaned them, made the epoxy "repair" and re-used them.

I coated the inside of the holes in the deck with epoxy after cleaning them out and slightly enlarging them. On re-assembly, I coated all aluminum-steel contact areas with Tefgel. And then plenty of 4200 sealer to finish the re-assembly.

 

[Tomarland]

Chain plates and U bolts

Once the U bolt is removed you probably will not need to remove the rods. If you notice dampness, water, in the holes in the deck you will need to drill the holes bigger (1/2 inch) and fill with epoxy. I used the West System epoxy 610. This comes in a tube and mixes when you apply with a caulk gun. Let cure for 24 hours and re drill for your new U bolts.

 

[Odelay]

Snuck my iPhone in for a snapshot.
The bottome of rod goes down around this teak in the cabinet.
smashed finger and a fistful of bloody knuckles and only 1/8th of the Ubolts removed

 

[Loren Beach]

Snuck my iPhone in for a snapshot.
The bottome of rod goes down around this teak in the cabinet.
smashed finger and a fistful of bloody knuckles and only 1/8th of the Ubolts removed

Similar teak covering trim as our boat. Pop those bungs out, carefully, and then remove the screws and then the teak.

And stock your boat with various sizes of Band Aids! (We go through a box 'bout every other year...)


LB

 

[Christian Williams]

Right, and just to add to what Loren says, bung removal is common to many Ericson projects.

If the bung was set in varnish, which is traditional, it will just pop out or disintegrate when tapped with a small screwdriver (note the grain).

If it doesn't come out easily, then it was set by somebody who used glue or worse.

Don't bugger the hole, because you will be installing a new bung when reassembling.

At first sign of glue, use a Forster drill bit on the bung, exact size of the bung--it will drill it out perfectly. (Don't hurt the screw head)

Lots of how-to videos on the Net about techniques for replacing bungs. And it's easy and satisfiying.

 

[Odelay]

Anybody thought of doing a conversion from the U-bolts to something more like this?

? What about this guys?

 

[footrope]

Snuck my iPhone in for a snapshot.
The bottome of rod goes down around this teak in the cabinet.
smashed finger and a fistful of bloody knuckles and only 1/8th of the Ubolts removed

Thanks for the picture. No corrosion on that one. I had one like that too. But five were moderately to badly corroded. The last two went into a steel plate, so, no corrosion. Persevere and then put them back better so that you can get them apart in 10 years, if necessary.

As the others have said, don't be afraid to take the woodwork off.

 

[Tomarland]

Instead of u bolts

Catalina has used something very similar to this for years. I think Garhauer makes them. As long as the weld is good this should be fine

 

[footrope]

? What about this guys?

I wouldn't advise converting to this configuration, but if you do consider it, remember that you still have to connect the thru-deck fitting to the rods and thus into the interior woodwork and the hull. The deck won't withstand the pull of the shrouds unless the tie rods carry the loads to the interior and hull.

 

[Odelay]

Garhauer made. One issue I'm running into is figuring out the correct angle for the bottom. I'm planning on connecting with Wire/turnbuckles to the hull.
Also when I unscrew the tie rods it hits the deck and started bending before coming unthreaded. So I either cut the rod or drill a hole in deck to get it out?

 

[bigd14]

U Bolt Chainplates- Replace threaded rods?

We pulled the shroud chainplates yesterday. The look reasonably good except the aluminum plates. At a minimum I will replace the aluminum plates, and plan on replacing the U bolts. But the rods are the same diameter as the threaded portion of the u bolts, and made of stainless steel, so they are subject to the same stresses and work hardening as the U bolts. So I would think they should be replaced along with the U bolts. But duplicating the formed ends would be very difficult. Why not increase the depth of the aluminum plate, tap it and use a left hand thread (leaving some open threads to account for adjustment)? The new rod would then act as a turnbuckle. The bottom of the stainless rod threads into a one inch aluminum cylinder already. I can't see why this would be any less strong and adjustable as the current set up, and a lot easier to manufacture. If titanium were used this would be the last time this would ever be done. Or I could use stainless and it would probably last another 30 years.

Thoughts? Concerns? Issues I haven't considered?

Thanks!

Doug

 

[Frank Langer]

Doug, how did you remove the chain plates, especially on the port side where access seems to be obstructed by the cabinet in the head? Any tips on removal would be helpful in case I decide to replace mine.
You mentioned that yours were in pretty good shape - - what caused you to remove them now (a problem or just maintenance) and would you still have removed them had you known in advance what condition they were in?
Thanks,
Frank