Catalina 310 Chainplates removal?

Apr 19, 2020
64
Catalina 310 Kenosha, WI
As a new c310 owner, I'm starting to rebed all 6 of the chainplates. Each of the three on each side appear to be mounted differently and I wanted to confirm how best to remove the cover plates while keeping the mast up? The forward one has 4 screws and I think I can simply remove that plate similar to the middle one. Then the aft one looks like it requires tension has to be removed with the turnbuckles and unbolted.

Any advice on this would be greatly appreciated.
 
Apr 19, 2020
64
Catalina 310 Kenosha, WI
I still can't access that Facebook story link, but that's ok...

More specifically, I'm interested to know how the aft-lower chainplates are removed, given that there is a lower tie rod? The procedure I think is:
  1. loosen the tension on the shroud
  2. unpin it from the CP
  3. remove tension on the tie rod by loosening the two hex bolts on from within the cabin wall behind the settee cushion
  4. loosen the large bolt pinning the tie rod to the CP ears using the flat blade screwdriver
  5. remove the 4 bolts that attache the CP to the deck
  6. gently pry the top and bottom CP apart above and below the deck

Then clean, rebed and put it back together in reverse order. Is that right?

That leaves the question of how to establish the right amount of tension on the tie rod before and after reattaching that shroud and re-tensioning? Using Buytl tape reveals additional squeeze out as you apply tie rod tension since it pulls down on the CP. Curious how others have dealt with the aft CP on the C310?

thanks!
 
Mar 6, 2008
331
Catalina 310 Scott Creek, VA
One way is to count how many half turns you relase the shroud, And replace with the same number of turns. You can pull a steel tape up the halyard and measure distance in each side, or sight the mast from a distance streight ahead and see if it is true
 
Nov 18, 2010
2,441
Catalina 310 Hingham, MA
I still can't access that Facebook story link, but that's ok...

More specifically, I'm interested to know how the aft-lower chainplates are removed, given that there is a lower tie rod? The procedure I think is:
  1. loosen the tension on the shroud
  2. unpin it from the CP
  3. remove tension on the tie rod by loosening the two hex bolts on from within the cabin wall behind the settee cushion
  4. loosen the large bolt pinning the tie rod to the CP ears using the flat blade screwdriver
  5. remove the 4 bolts that attache the CP to the deck
  6. gently pry the top and bottom CP apart above and below the deck

Then clean, rebed and put it back together in reverse order. Is that right?

That leaves the question of how to establish the right amount of tension on the tie rod before and after reattaching that shroud and re-tensioning? Using Buytl tape reveals additional squeeze out as you apply tie rod tension since it pulls down on the CP. Curious how others have dealt with the aft CP on the C310?

thanks!
The procedure is correct. As far as retensioning the tie rod, you will be limited because of access. Also, once you remove the shroud you will see that the tie rods are only a 1/2 turn or so beyond hand tight.

As far as the butyl tape, the squish occurs from the four bolts around the chain plate. There shouldn't be any additional squish from the tie rod.

The other thing you will find is that Catalina designed the lower plates wrong. When the chain plate is off, the slot and the bolt holes line up. But the problem is that the slot part of the chain plate comes through the hull at an angle. So now the bolt holes have to come at an angle to line up with the two plates. And in order to get the head of the bolts and the nuts to sit flush, you bend the bolts. Not a good system.

I was in a small Caribbean island with limited resources when I found this. So I couldn't fix it. In the future I will probably use a 1/4-inch to 1/2-inch G10 board to make a new backing plate. Then I will fill all the holes with epoxy and redrill the bolt holes straight so you don't bend the bolts.

Maybe this link will work. https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=2580412538714149&id=100002362837547

If not it was post on my Facebook on October 1, 2019. Jesse K On Smitty

Good luck

Jesse