bent mast, are my chainplates ok?

[vegassail]

I stupidly managed to hit a tree with my mast and bent it in half.

Looking the boat over after, I noticed that the cover plates on the chainplates on the front and one side are bent/bowed up.

I always assumed that it was just a flat piece of sheetmetal attached somewhere out of sight, but due to the way these bulged up I'm wondering what exactly is under there that could have caused the metal to bend that way. What does that cover piece (whatever it's called) rivet to?

Is this something I should care about? I don't see any visible fiberglass damage, just the bent metal.

 

[justsomeguy]

What does that cover piece (whatever it's called) rivet to?

It rivets through the deck. I put some backing washers under mine when I replaced 'em.

Is this something I should care about? I don't see any visible fiberglass damage, just the bent metal.

I certainly wouldn't ignore it! I would drill out the rivets then flatten the cover plates as best as I could, check for sealant/movement on the chainplate bolts and re-goop the cover plates back on.
Good luck!

 

[Joe]

Inspect the chainplate connection under the deck, you can't tell the whole story just looking from the top. Even on a small, lightweight production boat the chainplates are bonded or bolted securely to the hull or at the very least to a backing plate underneath the deck.

 

[SG]

What's the construction of the chain plate below the deck? I don't know how they put your boat together.

I would guess that the plate on the top is just a trim piece to keep water out and it should be bedded in sealant.

I think that the chain plate goes through the deck and is bolted some structure that is part of the hull AND NOT THE DECK.

It might be that you damaged the connection to hull or stringers or whatever. Look at those first, Then, as suggested by others above, you can deal with the cover plate.

The distress to the cover plate (with the rivets) MIGHT be from bending as the mast pulled-over and elastically stressed the chain plate -- but bent the cover plate and distressed the rivets into a non-elastic deformation (i.e., it doesn't rebound back to where it was).

You want to look underneath first at the plate itself, it's connection bolts and see if something was torn or distressed.