Sampson post backing plate

[joelvannorsdel]

I have a 1982 37C in Southern California. I have just acquired a mooring in Santa Barbara and they are asking about a backing plate for the Sampson Post. From the pictures I have taken, there is none, but I wonder if it is like the other deck mounted hardware that has the backing inside the glass?

 

[Ed Schenck]

Good question. My boat was anchored for a hurricane warning. Winds only reached about 60. But the two anchors were on that Sampson post and there has never been any looseness. And that post has been through lots of storms holding the bow securely, well since 1979 anyway.

 

[Blaise]

Midnight Sun has been through two hurricanes (one cat 1, the other a cat 3) while on a mooring. In the first, the boat broke loose because the lines chafed through, and the boat washed up on a seaplane ramp in Pensacola. The second, the boat survived unscathed because of much better chafe protection. In neither case was the samson post a concern.

 

[emilbec]

I found that I was getting water under my cushions in the v-berth. I immediately thought hatches (and so did the not-so-sharp surveyor). Turns out the leakage was from the sampson post which was on very long bolts whch shook every time as wake passed the boat (lines were attached). I had to take out the furnitue in the v-berth, remove the partition, take off the sampson post, dry it all out and glass, and re-bed the sampson post this time with shorter bolts.