Chain Plates

[Joan/Bill]

I was reading a forum today about a sailor in DE, who lost his mast. He stated it was because his chain plates had come loose. I am in the process of buying a 30 O'Day and I was concerned about this issue. I called Rudy Nickerson in MA he purchased all the O'Day molds and the Name. His is the man when it comes to O'Day's. He said that weak chain plates are not the easyest thing to detect. In the 30 footer he was only aware of two instances. He said that one of the cause beyond water intrusion, could be rigging to loose or to tight. I will let you know how my purchase turns out.

Bill

 

[Joe11688]

Bill,
One of my friends owns an O'Day 30 and he loves the boat. He keeps it at a marina on Mount Hope Bay and I was hoping to run into him out on the water this year but no luck. Just look it over good and ask a lot of questions. Good luck!
Joe

 

[stx203]

Make sure and have it surveyed....a good surveyor will use a sensitive moisture meter on the bulkheads to make sure there is no hidden water damage. I didn't have my '77 OD25 surveyed and lost the mast when the chainplate pulled out of the bulkhead and shot through the deck while under load....spent the summer replacing the bulkheads and standing rigging and repairing the deck....the survey is worth the cost.

 

[Shoaldrafter]

Make sure and have it surveyed....a good surveyor will use a sensitive moisture meter on the bulkheads to make sure there is no hidden water damage. I didn't have my '77 OD25 surveyed and lost the mast when the chainplate pulled out of the bulkhead and shot through the deck while under load....spent the summer replacing the bulkheads and standing rigging and repairing the deck....the survey is worth the cost.

Folks,

It does not take a surveyor to evaluate chain plate attachment quality in O'Day boats. The interior attaching bolts are visible. First, visually inspect from fore and aft. Then poke with shape device such as ice pike. Is bulkhead soft at attaching place?

On the ’77 that I saw it only had two bolts to chain plates. This was corrected on later boats. So, on boats with only two bolts, search archives of this forum for good instructions on how others modified this potential issue. There are more than one way.

The deck has no structural value so even if weak at thru deck location, that is not critical fixation, rather it is good fixation to bulkheads.

This is a fixable issue and should not determine whether you buy a particular boat, rather just fix the issue before sailing.

Ed K
26

 

[Joe11688]

I think that the chainplate configuration depends on the O'Day model. One of my friends owned a 1974 O'Day 27 which had two of it's four chainplates embedded in the fiberglass. My 222 has a backstay chainplate set up that way. It's probably bolted, but it's also embedded into the transom with fiberglass.