Holy Chainplates!

[emergpa1]

Hello, What a beautiful day, 7o's with light breezes. But my boat is on the trailor, and I have a lot of leaks to fix. To that end, I would like to find out the best way to reinforce my chainplate. I have removed the chainplate and found that it is in a portion of the deck that is cored...and of course the core here is soft from leaks, so i took a drill with bent nail and removed the area of core around it and allowing it to dry with slow heat from a bulb.
I know that i want to use epoxy. but this repair is a little different than the typical because the chainplate hole is rectangular. I want a good fit to reduce chainplate movement when i am done. what is the best way to go about this. do i put a plug in the backside somehow (the liner is in the way) then fill with thickened epoxy and use a saw to cut out the hole. or is there somehing i can put in there, put in the epoxy, then remove that something when the epoxy cures, leaving a perfectly sized hole. any ideas?
I have read the epoxy works website, and while it is very usefull, i havn't seen this particular situation addressed

 

[Shoaldrafter]

Keith said, "the hole where the chainplate passes through the deck is rotted out. i have core there. I am going to have to clean it out and fill it with epoxy. My question is, when i repair the hole by filling it in with epoxy, how do i make a square/ rectangular hole the right size of the chain plate to pass though? is there something you put in there before the epoxy and allow it to cure around it?"

I stuffed glass mat in first leaving room to put chain plate back in. The I waxed the chain plate, put waxed paper around the chain plate and reattached to bulkhead. Pushed putty into the crack around chain plate to seal it. Drilled some extra
holes around where chain plate comes out top. Poured and pushed epoxy into area several times, until it was level with deck.

Others have cut out area on deck and repaired then reinstalled cut out piece. The internet has other ways others have accomplished task. There are several good books on subject.

Ed K
26

 

[Marty A]

I don't have an O'day, so take my advice with a grain of salt, but what you should remember is that this configuration will leak again. Your goal should be to delay that leak as long as possible, and make fixing the leak again as easy as possible.

My advice (and I'm happy to be disagreed with) would be to open the deck hole to be "oversized" by a bit - maybe 1/16" or 1/8" all the way around the chainplate. Fill the rotten core with epoxy, etc as described and fasten the chainplate, then caulk the thru deck penetration with your sealant of choice - plenty of advice on that without me repeating it.

The core of what I'm trying to say is that the chainplate-to-deck joint provides no resistance to rig loads - tension, so to speak - so focus on the necessity to seal the joint.

Good luck and good sailing!

 

[Maine Sail]

My advice (and I'm happy to be disagreed with) would be to open the deck hole to be "oversized" by a bit - maybe 1/16" or 1/8" all the way around the chainplate. Fill the rotten core with epoxy, etc as described and fasten the chainplate, then caulk the thru deck penetration with your sealant of choice - plenty of advice on that without me repeating it.

This is the proper way to address this. If you need to make your "sealant gap" simply wrap the chain plate with electrical tape until you have your desired sealant gap then apply your epoxy. The hull, deck & bulkheads all move but not always in unison. You need a good thickness of sealant that can elongate & flex with the movement of the boat. A thin bead of sealant will not stretch nearly as much and elongate as much before failure as a thick bead will..

 

[Joe11688]

Keith,
Pick up a good book on fiberglass repair as Ed K. mentioned. Any of Don Casey's books on fiberglass repair are great for this. As far as sealing out the water goes, I had that same problem with my O'Day 25 chain plates and Rudy gave the idea of making flat plates to fit over the chain plates and have them welded in place. You apply your sealant under these plates, bolt them down and you'll never have a problem. The only other alternative you have, is to just go with the repair without the covers and replace the caulking around the chain plates every year when you do your annual boat maintenance.
Joe

 

[appleman]

Don Casey has a good article in the current Good Old Boat that is a good alternative, but Joe's idea is best if you can find a welder close by who can do a good job on stainless. I have seen bad jobs done on stainless.

 

[emergpa1]

to dry the core around the chainplate

thanks for the advice, I didn't know about leaving the space, and the chainplate cover weld looks like a great idea.
here is how i am drying the wet core around my chainplate. i made a template with pegboard. I hope that when the holes are filled and finished the pattern will make the repair less noticable. To keep the peg board from slipping out of place, i drilled the first two holes in opposing corners, and temporarily secured those with wood screws. To control the depth of the holes i put a portion of a reusable soda straw and a couple of rubber washers on my drill bit, and secured those with tape.

 

[Shoaldrafter]

Setting drill depth is done with devices made to control accurate depth of drilling. These are small rings with set screws. They stop the drilling at predetermined depth,say one inch. These are available at good tool supply places. Check your tool catalogues.

For example, Appleman gave the depth of inner space of cabin top as 1/2 inch. Set drill depth a 3/8ths inch so as not to drill thru inner liner.

The right tool will do the job correctly and often easier.

Ed K
26