J/30 Class Association Forums J/30 Forum The Boat, Sails and Equipment Examine the chainplates

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!