[Public-List] Chain plates...

[Mike Lehman]

The bolts that Whiby used were the wrong kind. They were threaded all the
head of the bolt which lessened the diameter of the bol,. weakened then and
allowed them to bend under strain. We have replaced the bolts on many boats
during our "Maintenance Weekends"  with proper SS shoulder bolts which are
considerably stronger. That does not solve the problem with rotten
bulkheads, which is a whole other problem and a much more difficult repair.

On Thu, Mar 17, 2022 at 8:54 AM Gordon Laco via Public-List <
public-list at lists.alberg30.org> wrote:

> "So there I was… “
>
> In the RCN stories, particularly stories involving disasters averted at
> the last moment are called ‘salty dips’.   When one is getting under way
> into a salty dip, you start with ’So there I was…’ while making a motion
> overhead as if one is knocking a lantern to make it swing, the image being
> you want to add effect to the tale by simulating the motion of your ship in
> the storm.   Imagine I’m doing that now.
>
> So there I was, yesterday, about mid afternoon with the birds returning
> outside my office window, hope fading that my British supplier’s crate of
> fittings would arrive that day, all the desperate customers notified
> ‘hopefully tomorrow’, and for the moment pressing work caught up.  While I
> was building my new dinghy this winter, I forced myself into the habit of
> starting work early and downing tools (well shutting down the computer) at
> 3pm and doing two hours work on the boat.  The dinghy is virtually
> finished, so I decided yesterday to go over to SURPRISE have a look at her
> portside chain plates.
>
> Last spring, my big job was to build raised and armoured blocks of metal,
> epoxy and fibre around each chainplate where it came through the deck in
> hopes of finally curing the persistent leaks there.  I did the job and the
> leaks were finally conquered… but I also noticed that during the season the
> portside primary shrouds chain plate seemed to have moved up minutely. I
> could detect this because I could see the ‘waterline’ of caulk on the plate
> where it came out of the metal top surface of the block. Hmmm, that’s bad.
>
> I looked inside at what the plate is bolted to and saw it was bolted to
> the tabbing securing the bulkhead… the three bolts going through both
> tabbing and bulkhead.  There was a spacer on the after side, and that was
> dark mush.  It had once been plywood, but decades of leaks had destroyed
> the wood.  I turned the nuts and found them apparently loose… turning them
> in was compressing the mush.  That’s very bad.
>
> All winter I’ve visualized the repair… well yesterday with the warm
> weather I went at it.  Imagine my horror when the mush came out with
> minimal effort.  Imagine my deeper horror when the bolts all came out with
> very stylish and complex bends in them, obviously from the stress imposed
> on them by the shroud they secured.    If anyone wants to see a picture,
> email me and I’ll send to you.
>
> So now I’m resolved to replace all the bolts in all the chainplates, and
> in place of the plywood (mushy or not) I am fitting in the very hard
> variety of mahogany I used for the knees and keel of my new dinghy.
>
> Am I glad I looked into this?  Oh yes… oh yes...
>
>
> Gordon Laco
> 426 Surprise
>
>
>
>
>
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-- 
Mike Lehman
~~~_/)_/)~~_/)~~~