New owner chain plate question

[The Creamy Pint]

Hi guys. New owner and new to the forums.

Although I've sailed and raced for many years, I am now the proud owner of my first boat, a '69 Ericson26'. Let's just say the price was right and it came with a trailer that's in great shape. The boat is in astonishingly good shape in some aspects. While the guys I race with wil call it a "4 knt shitbox" I've already started putting time into making it a boat I will love and be proud of.

My most pressing issue involves a chain plate, or more specifically the hull around the chain plate. The shrouds and plate itself are in good shape, but there is a single radial stress crack in the hull/deck about two inches away from the chain plate from what must have been a hell of a windy day. If there were any gelcoat on the boat, I'd say the crack is deeper than that, but not by too much.

I am having a hell of a time trying to get a peak at the underside of the chain plates. It seems I would have to literally tear out part of the cabin.

My question to you guys is this: I plan on taking the chain plate off, applying fiber glass over the cracked area, putting the chain plate back on with new screws and a strong sealant/adhesive. Does this sound like a safe fix (as I said, the shrouds and plate itself are in okay shape, no loose wires, no cracks in the plate)?

thanks and cheers !

 

[Rocinante33]

Re-bedding the chainplates is very doable and an important piece of preventive or corrective maintenance. Where are the cracks, though? Are they in the deck or the hull, or do they encompass both the deck and the hull? First, make sure you secure the mast with the halyard tightened to the base of a stantion. Then mark the turnbuckles so you can put them back to approximately the same tension before you remove the shroud. I would use epoxy to do the repairs. Make sure you check the deck core for wetness and be sure to epoxy the edges of the core so it can never leak in there. When done with the epoxy you may have to drill and file the chainplate openings. You will want chamfered (angled) edges. After sanding surfaces smooth, paint the area. Examine the chainplate carefully while you have it out. Rebed it in polysifide sealant.

I'm sure there are other threads about this topic, so try a search.

 

[sleather]

Pint, Welcome! It may be in your best interest to get to the bottom of any chainplate attachment issues below decks, no matter what the difficulty may be. Is there any evidence on the chainplate of vertical movement(old caulk line perhaps).

The reason I say this is that the crack "may" be from a load below decks. My situation was this......

In late '01 I was coming back in from a "spirited" sail on my '79 E23 and noticed the rigging was looser than normal. After securing her in the slip I went below and took a look at the port bulkhead/chainplate and nothing "appeared" unusual. Above deck I did notice the top of the caulk joint was ~1/2" higher than before. A closer inspection below revealed that the only thing holding the mast up was the upper bolt on the chainplate being wedged against the hull liner/deck.:eek: Upon disassembly I discovered that the plywood bulkhead had rotted away allowing the bolts to move. All this was hidden by the chainplate itself. That radial crack "may" be an indication of something more sinister. If everything checks out OK follow Keith's recommendations.

 

[The Creamy Pint]

thanks for the replys you guys. There is no evidence of vertical movement, in fact, yesterday I scraped away all the old sealant/caulk in preparation to re-glass the area and I'll be damned if the plate didn't actually look rather shiney. . . like it might have been replaced in the not too distant past.

I agree that I need to get a peek at the underside. . . somehow.

p.s. Sleather, that's a crazy story. Did you do something special with ther heroic nut? Mount it on a plaque?

 

[sleather]

p.s. Sleather, that's a crazy story. Did you do something special with ther heroic nut? Mount it on a plaque?

It's still there doing its job in a new and improved bulkhead.

It would take awhile for that bolt to saw/rip thru the deck, but it WOULD happen eventually. I was lucky, the winds that day were in the 30+ category.

 

[The Creamy Pint]

1/2 removed 1/2 tore out vinyl and wood paneling to get a peek at underside of chain plate in questin.

Chain plate buried in many layers of fiber glass. Like looking at something through jello. Seems to be one of those t shaped things, with the top of the cross bar above the deck, the bottom below the deck, and held in place by a literal plating of fiber glass, and maybe some screws somewhere. Hard to spot any.

The only way you could rebed that sucker is to grind away a hell of a lot of fiber glass, just to inspect it, and then put a hell of a lot of fiber glass back on it. So, since everything but the radial stress crack looks good, I've relglassed the stress cracks on the deck and applied a polyurethane sealant to the top part of the chain plate.

 

[JORGE]

my chainplates

While, I had been rebuilding the whole deck (on the hard this year)., I dremeled about a full inch down and around each leaky chainplate,filled them each with Epoxy& silica which is done now,on my 71' E32, and later-on will Polysulfide seal each plate. Still just for good measure, I regraded the poor-soft side-decks(never again), using about 3 gallons Quickfair and my own gallon of epoxy filler mix,plus about two gal. EpoxyPrimerpain..
(In addition, however each of my chainplate supports,under the deck were restored by the Prior owner with a 3/4" ply(Mahogany)add-ons, mounted atop of the bulkheads on each side,(looks ugly but works!:I'll probably add some kind of storage compartment over each of the add-ons.)