chain plates

[donelanc]

Hi
I just bought a 272 le and have it in my yard with mast down. I keep hearing the biggest flaw in this boat is the chain plates. I've seen some pictures with the bulkheads blown out and thought this a good time to do preventive maintenence. I was going to rebed the plates and make sure not rot above. The bulkhead looks ok. I've seen a couple of pictures of people adding 2x stock between plates and bulk head. Didn't look great but would do it if need be. Any suggestions greatly appreciated. Don't want to be motoring in dragging a mast this summer
thanks
Paul

 

[cb32863]

If its not rotten, don't mess with it. I replaced the bulkheads and resealed the chainplates on my 25. I used LifeCaulk Polysulfide to seal them up. Some folks use Butyl as well but I had heard good things about Polysulfide caulk for this type of application. Some info here;

http://danssailingblog.blogspot.com/2012/08/project-1-part-3.html

 

[jibes138]

The biggest concern will be if the core inside the deck is wet and rotten. This will keep the stainless wet and can cause stress corrosion cracking, the most likely source of chain plate failure. You should unbolt the chain plates and remove them, then inspect the core by probing through the slot to see if it is good and solid or just all mushy. Use a bent paperclip or similar piece of wire as a probe. If it is rotten you will need to fix that, may require cutting out a piece of the deck or if you want to fix it from below you can remove some headliner and try to put new core in. I would leave the area of the slot solid fiberglass to preclude any further leaks. Good luck, I hope the deck is sound and you can just re-bed the chain plates.