E38 Chainplate U-Bolts and Replacements

[Drewm3i]

I did this project on my 38-200 and the Garhauer replacements required widening the holes in the deck and aluminum backing plate (that holds the tie rod).

As far as I know, the u-bolts on your 32-3 are a size smaller than the ones used on the 38 (not sure about the 34 and 35).

 

[Filkee]

I did this project on my 38-200 and the Garhauer replacements required widening the holes in the deck and aluminum backing plate (that holds the tie rod).

As far as I know, the u-bolts on your 32-3 are a size smaller than the ones used on the 38 (not sure about the 34 and 35).

I’m going to send the bits to them to make sure it comes out right.

 

[Filkee]

Successfully extracted first U bolt today. No bad balsa but the top of the block is a wee bit rough. If this is 40 years of deterioration, can I clean it up a bit and go for 40 more or is that bad parenting?

 

[footrope]

View attachment 53869
Successfully extracted first U bolt today. No bad balsa but the top of the block is a wee bit rough. If this is 40 years of deterioration, can I clean it up a bit and go for 40 more or is that bad parenting?

Yes, you can re-use the blocks. I had the yard bead-blast them to clean up the pocked surface. You can do the cleanup yourself, the corrosion just needs to be removed. Then I coated the uneven top surface with epoxy to make it smooth to go against the underside of the deck.

 

[Filkee]

For a minute I got kind of expansive and thought, “Oh, while I have these things pulled apart, I might as well replace the lower turnbuckles and screws,” but then I looked at the price (on Rigrite) and my head exploded. Is Navtec like Apple or is there a reasonable alternative?

 

[Kenneth K]

Yeah, the Navtec-style turnbuckles are obsolete, so Rig-Rite charges exorbitant prices for what they have left in stock. The typical answer is to switch over to modern open-body turnbuckles (many folks use Hayn), but this pretty much means all new standing rigging.


Like I mentioned in post #74, if you get new turnbuckles, you'll likely find that most standard-sized rigging toggles (shackles) will fit either the chainplate or the turnbuckle eyes, but not both. The solution is to either "right-size" the chainplates when having new ones made, or, more likely, to have custom toggles made to fix the sizing mis-match between the chainplates and turnbuckles.

 

[Filkee]

Boats are expensive.

 

[Drewm3i]

View attachment 53868View attachment 53869
Successfully extracted first U bolt today. No bad balsa but the top of the block is a wee bit rough. If this is 40 years of deterioration, can I clean it up a bit and go for 40 more or is that bad parenting?

I think it is fine with a clean up and paint/dialectic grease long as there are no cracks.

 

[Drewm3i]

For a minute I got kind of expansive and thought, “Oh, while I have these things pulled apart, I might as well replace the lower turnbuckles and screws,” but then I looked at the price (on Rigrite) and my head exploded. Is Navtec like Apple or is there a reasonable alternative?

If you're not replacing the rigging wires (if original, I probably would), there is almost no conceivable reason to replace those (very nice and high quality) BRONZE stud turnbuckles.