E38 Chainplate U-Bolts and Replacements

[Odelay]

I ended up up just getting new plates made out of stainless
had the machine shop inspect my Ubolts and Rods(my rods are aluminum)
i feel confident that this will last another 30 years I will just add inspection of Ubolts to my yearly list.
I tried sourcing new Ubolts and it was extremely difficult and expensive to find. I was about to just have the machine shop fabricated them for me but decided against it.

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

View attachment 22462

 

[bigd14]

Hi Frank- I was chasing some leaks, and the aluminum plates looked mighty corroded, so I figured while the boat is out of the water I may as well pull them. The aluminum plates were worse than I thought, but everything else looks pretty solid. I am now thinking I will definitely replace the u bolts. The bulkhead chainplate was easy to remove. The hardest part was removing the trim and fabric staples in the head and in the main cabin. Once those were out, the u bolts could be removed, and then the chainplate, once unbolted, slides easily out towards the cabin side (but does get caught in the headliner). This chainplate looks in excellent shape, with only some minor rust spots. The ubolts were simply whacked from inside with a hammer and pried from the outside with a pry bar and eventually they popped out of the deck. The nuts were run to the end to protect the thread, and were sacrificed in the process. The threads on a few u bolts got a bit buggered, but they can be reused if necessary.

Thanks Odelay for sharing your experience. The steel rods seem like they are in good condition and probably could be reused, but I'm still wondering if I should replace them. I am going to talk to a machinist friend and see what he thinks.

 

[Frank Langer]

Thanks for your reply, Doug!
It's interesting that even though you had some leaks there, the chainplate still looked solid with only a bit of rust. I would have thought that stainless steel in the absence of oxygen (ie. inside the deck section) would have corroded more with moisture.

I would also be interested in what your machinist friend says about whether the tie rods can be reused or should be replaced. While obviously the chainplates and related items are important for the safety of the rig, there are so many things to maintain on our older boats that it's helpful to get this information as our boats are similar age--my E30+ is also 1984, hull #637. I have no signs of moisture/leaks on the bulkheads or under the headliner, so am reluctant to dismantle everything just to check the chainplates; I'm inclined to wait until I see any beginning sign of leak or problem, but I keep thinking about this one. In the meantime, I make liberal use of Captain Tolley's Creeping Crack Cure, which is a liquid sealer--I put some around all my deck fittings a few times a year, but it never shows a crack or leak, so that's good!

Thanks again!
Frank

 

[Odelay]

I forgot to mention
I had to drill holes in deck under the Ubolt plates to remove the rods. I used epoxy to refill andcovered with the plates. My headliner is still in bad shape and I'm hopeful to get some teak blocks made to cover the slices I made to remove the backing plates.

 

[Tomarland]

I ended up up just getting new plates made out of stainless
had the machine shop inspect my Ubolts and Rods(my rods are aluminum)
i feel confident that this will last another 30 years I will just add inspection of Ubolts to my yearly list.
I tried sourcing new Ubolts and it was extremely difficult and expensive to find. I was about to just have the machine shop fabricated them for me but decided against it.[/



You can get the correct u bolts from Garhauer Marine Hardware for a fraction of the cost of RigRite. Ask for Mark Felgenhauer. I had them make me two about two years ago

 

[Alan Gomes]

I ended up up just getting new plates made out of stainless
had the machine shop inspect my Ubolts and Rods(my rods are aluminum)
i feel confident that this will last another 30 years I will just add inspection of Ubolts to my yearly list.
I tried sourcing new Ubolts and it was extremely difficult and expensive to find. I was about to just have the machine shop fabricated them for me but decided against it.[/



You can get the correct u bolts from Garhauer Marine Hardware for a fraction of the cost of RigRite. Ask for Mark Felgenhauer. I had them make me two about two years ago

Randy Shelman and I both used Garhauer when we replaced the U-bolts on our E26's. Great way to go and very reasonably priced.

 

[bigd14]

Thanks, I'll get in touch with Garhauer about the u bolts. Wonder if they could duplicate the threaded rods and more importantly the cold molded flange on the end?

 

[bigd14]

Chainplate Tie Rod Head Cracked

I finally got around to cleaning off the corrosion and inspecting the rod heads. Here is what I found on the starboard aft one. This is the only crack on any of the chainplate hardware. Looks like I will be replacing them. Rig-Rite has them, and are getting me a quote. They are made of Nitronic 50 so I am a bit surprised they cracked (stronger than 304 and 316). I am also looking at other options for having someone manufacture them as I have heard Rig Rite will be $$$$. I'll provide updates.

Odelay, where did you have your work done on the plates? I am having trouble finding someone who can do this work.

 

[Afrakes]

Rods

I have four in excellent shape. Two at 16" long and two a 6" long. Let me know if I can help. Point of clarification, these are from an early eighties Ericson with exposed turnbuckles.

 

[bigd14]

Thanks Al. Unfortunately these ones are 27 inches long. This is a pretty fussy system, it seems like a better solution could have been developed. Just for fun, I am going to run some rigging numbers and see if an alternative solution presents itself using readily available (and less $$) materials. A search of the web yielded quite a few variations of the tie rod attachment at the chainplate end. In the end I will probably end up biting the bullet when (if) Rig Rite gets back to me with a price for exact replacements. That would certainly be the easiest. But so far it has not been in my nature to take the easiest path.