Chainplates

They finally put me in the yard today, but won't unstep the mast until tomorrow. This went better than Saturday, but they still managed to destroy the block for my spinnaker halyard. The guy didn't realize that the halyard went over the travel lift crossbar to support the mast while the forestay was removed -- my mast is deck stepped, so without a forestay, there's nothing to keep the mast from tipping over backwards.

After lowering the boat onto the trailer, he started to move the lift out of the way. As he did, he pulled the halyard, it tightened, and all of a sudden the sheave exploded. For a second there, I thought he was going to rip something else out of the deck. I wasn't quite as cool about this mishap and used a bit of colorful language to express my displeasure. But he stopped quickly and it looks like he only broke the sheave, nothing else.

Now that I think of it, Barden's put her in with a travel lift and didn't have to take off the forestay, but they lifted her from from the stern instead of the bow. I'll have to mention that to them, because I don't want any more mishaps. My mast is well forward of midships, so the angle of the backstay is less than that of the forestay, therefore, they can get in closer without hitting it if you lift from the stern. They must just lift everything the same way without thinking about it.

Btw, the guys at Barden's are still the best I've seen at lifting and moving boats, as well as working on engines. They still owe me for a broken handrail, but that guy was the exception.

I'd actually never seen anything break on a boat (except my handrail), so I'm glad I got to see both of these failures in the yard and not at sea. I think it puts things in perspective and will help me make better decisions concerning repairs and upgrades in the future. In particular, I really want to get a handle on expected loads and the ratings on all the gear I've got on the boat. Some things might be too small, and others might be overkill, and thus a waste of money.

Everything should be okay now, but I have to make sure I don't let these guys do too much, because I don't think I could afford them. They were talking about having my new chainplates fabricated, but after looking on the web, I see that it would probably cost several hundred to perhaps several thousand dollars to get them fabricated depending on how many I get -- the stem fitting would be the most expensive.

Therefore, I've decided I'm going to buy bronze flat bar stock and make my own. It's not really a big deal, and I can make ones for my drogue at the same time. At a bare minimum, I need to replace the six side ones that are 3/16" x 1" x 12". I think the one for the backstay is more or less the same, but I need to go take a look to be sure -- it'll need to be bent as well, which might be a problem.

I want to beef them up a bit, so I'm going to go with either 1/4" or 3/8" x 1 1/2" aluminum bronze stock. Cutting, drilling, and polishing shouldn't be a problem, but the drilling does require a special bit (you need a straight flute, so I'll probably just buy a new regular one and modify it since they're hard to get). Bronze isn't quite as strong, so upgrading to 1/4" x 1 1/2" would only be a modest increase in strength, but 3/8" may or may not be overkill. I'll need to check the thickness as the masthead before I decide on what to order since it doesn't make much sense to make it any stronger than the weakest link.

I'm not sure what to do about the stem, but I'll pull it first so I can see what shape it's in. I'm sure it has a similar problem, however, a design flaw in the construction of the side chainplates really exacerbated the corrosion problem. They had an 'L' shaped piece welded onto the side that helped prevent it from being pulled through the deck. I'm not sure how much that really helped, because all it did was make a big hole when it pulled through my deck. Sure, it bent a little, but I don't think that helped much. Maybe it's just there to make a lot of noise as it rips through so you notice something's wrong.

It might be designed to take some of the load off the bolts that fasten it to the hull, but I don't like it much. The problem was that it's only welded on the sides. If water leaked in, which it always does, it pools in the void between the two pieces and rusts. In the photo I posted below, the bent 'L' shaped piece is actually pulled away and underneath, but the rust and large cracks are the back side of where the two pieces touched.

Bronze won't have this problem, but I don't see a reason to add something like that anyway. I'm certainly not welding anything. I'll research some more and talk to the rigger tomorrow about it, but if the bolts aren't enough, I'd prefer to add more and perhaps make it longer.

Another problem is that the standing rigging might need to be replaced as well. I'm not sure how much that costs either, but I'm going to have to have a long talk with the rigger on what I need to do -- he pointed out some problems when he looked at it today. If I do get new ones, whoever makes them will figure the loads for me, so that may also dictate the size of the chainplates. It may also require a modification, or replacement, or the masthead. I think the mast itself is okay, but I may end up trimming the bottom of it after all.

With all these extra expenses, it's looking like I may need to go back to work sooner than later. At least I'm stuck near NYC, it's the hottest high tech labor market in the country right now, or at least that's what I've heard. I've been getting one or two emails or calls a week from recruiters for at least the last month or two. However, if I do end up interviewing anywhere, they're going to have to take me as I am, because I got rid of all my suits. But with all the work I need to do, I don't really have time for a job right now -- the boat is my job.