Good day,
As summer is drawing to a close, I'm looking at my chainplates and putting them at the top of my list. Has anyone done a spot check on the chainplates; in terms of loosening the stays so the chainplates can be removed. Is the mast able to free stand for a bit while this is being done, or has anyone done something like this without popping out the mast?

I would probably only do that in very flat water, although the mast won't fall. If you keep the headstay attached, tighten the backstay and attach your jib and spinnaker halyards to starboard and port stanchion bases and snug them up, the mast should stay reasonably straight.

I agree with Steve. If you are at the dock or on the hard you should be fine. Loosen the uppers and lowers on the opposite side till they are just hand tight, release all tension on the back stay, release any vang tension, disconnect the boom from its topping lift and set the back of the boom down on the companionway. Run a halyard over to a stanchion base on the side you want to check. The mast won't go anywhere

Just re-read Steve's comments and see we differ on what to do with the back stay. So, not trying to be argumentative, here's my thought. If you take off the uppers and lowers on one side, I would suggest loosening everything to just hand tight with boom vang off and weight of boom removed. My thought is to keep the mast as straight as possible to keep it in column. Regardless, it won't come down even if it is completely un-shrouded (at the dock or on the hard in 10k or less of breeze)

I'm not sure why easing the backstay is necessary-although probably not a big deal either way. My thinking was to loosen both sets of shrouds at the same time so the mast stays more or less straight. Tightening the basckstay would add tension to the headstay which otherwise would get really really loose with the shrouds eased, and would also keep the top of the mast from wobbling around.

Dout that it matters either way. If I'd taken the time to thoroughly read your note, I would not have commented on the back stay. Sorry for creating confusion

I replaced my chain plates earlier this year with the boat in the water. I used the jib halyards to support the mast side to side while the shrouds were loose with no issues. The boat is in a protected harbor however. After 35 years there was light surface corrosion and the core at the chain plate deck holes were dry thankfully. We trimmed the old chain plates and use them as backing plates.

I have pictures on my blog: http://careandfeedingofnordicstarpartii.blogspot.com/

Hey Everyone,
Thanks for the replies (I love the fact there is such a good J30 community!)

"Wings" is located in a very sheltered and calm bay, so will attempt the inspection and in need be, replacement there. I'll follow the above advice re the halyards and will let everyone know how I proceed. First I'm going to wait for these pesky hurricanes to go away though.

Cheers,

Sean

yet another difference on judicious My chain plates are completely different.

Today's project was to pull the chain plates and the prop shaft and amazingly both went much faster and easier than I had planned or expected. After removing the chain plate covers I went below and removed the bolts and the plates practically volunteered for removal at that point. I have no idea how old the sealant around these chain plates was, but it was brittle, something I hadn't expected. A little wiggling around and I had them in my hands.





Once inside the shop I looked them over before taking them to the wire wheel. Nothing really jumped out as serious pitting or cracking even after cleaning them up. I was momentarily tempted to just put them back in the boat. I just decided that they had served their useful life and that using them as the backing plate was the way to go. So new chain plates are on order along with a new prop shaft and a 14 x 14 Max Prop. There are some basic things I do not want to fail on this boat. These chain plates will match up to new shrouds that I bought a year ago. I will be checking the bulkhead for moisture directly behind these plates and will then decide if trying to isolate these bolt holes is worth the effort. If this area is dry after all these years then simply sealing the chain plates back up seems adequate.

Things are starting to go back together now, much faster than the dismantling part part of this big project. Hopefully that is not a train coming where I am seeing some light!