C30 chain plate surprise....

[Diybrad]

I know this is a big topic among any older boats but it never hurts to talk about it again. I have owned an 89 C30 for about 8-9 months now and we purchased it from a forum member here and we paid what i feel was a fair price but also closer to the upper end of this year/size catalina. The boat was/is in amazing shape and has been cared for since its original splash. I have been going through making major upgrades since we purchased her. One of those upgrades has been removing every screw that penetrates the deck skin, poting and rebeding like described in MaineSails amazing website how too article. If you aren't familiar, below is a link to his site.

http://www.pbase.com/mainecruising/boat_projects

We were out sailing on Old Hickory Lake in TN this weekend and the winds were hitting 23 knots on a sunny day. Around here that is amazing so we took full advantage of it. After the wonderful two days of sailing i started to think more about safety and what if senarios. We were due to have our first child on 8/13 but since the doc gave us the go ahead, we went and played (she is being stubborn and didnt want to come by the due date). Afterwards, I got to thinking about the structural integrity of the rigging since the next time i am on the boat it will be with the wife and our new baby girl.

The standing rigging was replaced in 2011 if i recall correctly so only 5-6 years old. More than acceptable. I have read the horror stories about failed chain plates and thought... this boat has been cared for extremely well, no way my chain plates can be bad. Other than than Bow and stern pulpits, the chain plates are the only items i haven't paid any attention. Today it finally got to me so i went over and pulled the port upper chain plate. When i pulled it from below i had a rag and wiped off the surface rust and I was pleasantly surprised at the lack of surface corrosion. Once i got it outside in the day light, i was mortified. I cant belive this thing didn't fail over this weekend with the wind we had.

Long story short, if the boat is of age, regardless of how well it appears to be taken care of, there are things that are going to fail over time. It is up to you to decide if a little bit of investigation up front is worth your time and energy to prevent what could be a major and costly mishap in the future. I know my 30 minutes of time to remove this one chain plate saved me from potential costly boat repairs and possible bodily injury to myself, my wife and my soon to be new born.

As you can see in the images below, there is little to no surface corrosion but there are several cracks on the two major surfaces and on of the edges.

 

[The Garbone]

Wow, baby on the way.. Little ones on board are a handful. Congrats on the soon to be added crew.

Thanks for sharing the chainplate photos, crazy stuff.

 

[Diybrad]

Wow, baby on the way.. Little ones on board are a handful. Congrats on the soon to be added crew.

Thanks for sharing the chainplate photos, crazy stuff.

i just looked over your blog. Looks like you have had a new crew member yourself in the last 14 months. She is beautiful.

 

[jssailem]

Holey moley. That is one ugly plate. I got off easy this spring. Removed the six plates, only one had a minor pin hole of rust. I buffed it out and was rewarded with clean shinny metal. You are fortunate to let your gut worry you enough to take action.
One on the right before - on the left after buff and polish.

 

[Diybrad]

Holey moley. That is one ugly plate. I got off easy this spring. Removed the six plates, only one had a minor pin hole of rust. I buffed it out and was rewarded with clean shinny metal. You are fortunate to let your gut worry you enough to take action.View attachment 126888
One on the right before - on the left after buff and polish.

your plates look great. i feel i got lucky. I had every intention to replace the chain plates at some point. i have a very large CNC plasma table in my garage but i dont keep 316 stainless around. I planned to make my own during the winter but that time table just got moved up. They only take about 1 hour to remove and replace. If you buy them from the only place i have found them so far they are $300. not cheap but not near what the damage would cost.

 

[JohnVTX]

Yikes, I am going to have to pull mine now.

 

[Stu Jackson]

Good thing to bring this up regularly.

I'll say it again and again, repeatedly, and over & over:

CHAINPLATES are and should be part of PERIODIC ROUTINE preventative MAINTENANCE.

Just because some folks ignore them, doesn't make that fact go away. Those are the same skippers who ignore oil & transmission fluid changes.

 

[kito]

Forgive my ignorance but what is that plate welded to on the C30?. Just curious since my H30 has chain plates like the ones JsSailem shows and are through bolted to fiberglass encapsulated wood bulkheads. Just seems like a lot of stress cracks close to the weld.

 

[Roland5048]

CHAINPLATES are and should be part of PERIODIC ROUTINE preventative MAINTENANCE.

Very True! I had an upper shroud chainplate snap while on a close reach in fairly heavy air. Thank goodness I was only flying the genny. A little staining on the outside but nothing to get too excited about. Completely corroded on the inside. Replaced all six. A couple of years later, on a broad reach in light air, the stemhead snapped sending the genny and all the furling gear off flying like a kite. Got lucky both times. No damage except for my heart skipping a few beats. I'm just glad this didn't happen when I was a newbie. Check those chainplates.

 

[jssailem]

Once checked, reinstall so you can check and remove in future should you have the need. I chose the Maine Sail buytl method. Understand marine cualk products work well. Just avoid the "stick in on forever 5200" idea.

 

[Diybrad]

Once checked, reinstall so you can check and remove in future should you have the need. I chose the Maine Sail buytl method. Understand marine cualk products work well. Just avoid the "stick in on forever 5200" idea.

Silicone caulk and 5200 are banned from my tool bags. Bought 4 rolls of butyl from Maine Sail to rebed all deck fittings. I used sikaflex on my through hulls, rope clutches and my mast step but everything else is buytl. It really is an amazing product.

 

[Jim 5757]

This is one of the things we like about the Morgans of the 70's era. The chainplates are all outside the hull so allot easier to inspect. Having said that ours are probably original so we're springing for new ones this winter.

 

[Cayennita]

I replaced mine after the mast broke in half. My own stupidity.

 

[Diybrad]

I replaced mine after the mast broke in half. My own stupidity.

I would like to hear the story behind that.

 

[Cayennita]

Bought hull # 364 for one dollar and after some cleaning and bottom painting I went sailing without inspecting the chain plates. A gust to 50 mph did the damage. It ripped the port aft lower turnbuckle pin right off the chainplate. Very fast the forward lower went, then the the main upper was left holding until that cable parted. It all happened in seconds. Being that the whole crew is made of disabled sailors, we could not react fast enough.
The sleeved repaired mast has now withstood two regattas with winds gusting over 30. No more problems.

 

[Diybrad]

Here is one of the new chain plates. I made all the parts and did the polishing but i dont have a tig so i used a local welder to finish it up. i will install the new one tomorrow and pull the port side and see what kind of damage we have on that one. I also got replacements for the 4 ubolts in the mail the other day.

Once i have upper and lower shrouds chain plates replaced i will work on the backstays then the forestay.

 

[Diybrad]

A gust to 50 mph did the damage.

I am not sure i would feel confident that new chainplates and rigging would hold in a 50mph gust. Especially if under full sail.

 

[The Garbone]

I also got replacements for the 4 ubolts in the mail the other day.

Were did you source the Ubolts from? I have the CD kit but galled one of the nuts on the ubolt short of being all the way tight (did not lube the threads) so want to replace one. CD did not want to split up a kit and I did not see them with the plates at McMaster Carr.

 

[jssailem]

They look great Brad.
Just checking, after the work did you have them dipped (passivate the stainless to reduce the chance of rust)?

 

[Diybrad]

Were did you source the Ubolts from? I have the CD kit but galled one of the nuts on the ubolt short of being all the way tight (did not lube the threads) so want to replace one. CD did not want to split up a kit and I did not see them with the plates at McMaster Carr.

I got them from Catalina Direct. You have to call and talk to tech support and they will sell you just the ubolt. Only tech support can to this and they will want proof you purchased the upgrade kit. The ubolt is $20. Catalina still has two different ubolts available but they aren't the correct ones and they are $100 each.