Triton chainplate bolts

bcooke · Post by **bcooke** » Sat Jul 31, 2004 2:46 pm

I was removing the chainplates for a routine check and rebedding and had a question about the bolts holding the chainplates in. The chainplates are stainless but the bolts are bronze. Any reason for this combination? I priced some stainless hardware cheaper than the bronze and thought using the same material in both the hardware and plates would be a good thing. Anyone know why Pearson would mix metals?

I could probably re-use most of the bolts but I like the new color on hardware and a couple of bolts had enough corrosion on the threads to jam the nut up and left me twisting the bolts apart. I wonder how much twisting strain I put in the bolts that did not come apart. Tell me if I am being overly worried about bolts held only in shear.

Curiously, one chainplate bolt had pulled through some tabbing that it had been improperly seated against and was just floating loose. I was glad I checked. The plates needed to come out in any case to seal the deck coring before my local coring problems became major coring problems.

I am giving myself the weekend off. It has been hot and buggy at the boatyard.

Thanks guys, (and girls if any are silently lurking out there)

-Britton

The Good Goose · Post by **The Good Goose** » Sat Jul 31, 2004 5:26 pm

The bolts on my stainless chainplates were also bronze. They showed no signs of any corrosion so I reused them. I have read that stainless and bronze are galvanically fairly close so apparently this type of corrosion is not too bad of a problem. I dont know which is stronger but I don't think it is an issue I have never read of a Chainplate failure from noncorroded bolts shearing off. I guess if I had remembered to buy new stainless bolts I probably would of replaced them. These are probably the only fastenings on the boat I didn't replace.

Brock Richardson

Dave, 397 · Post by **Dave, 397** » Sun Aug 01, 2004 3:02 am

Check those chainplate knees! All of mine were punky nasty 1/2 rotten oak under the glass, some of which I could peel off without too much difficulty. They LOOKED fine and FELT fine.

Because of the way they are installed in the boat (not always fully encapsulted) and because water can migrate via the bolts themselves if it is leaking down the chainplates, it is a good bet that if there is water in the core and there has been leakage at the chainplate sealing covers...there is some water intrusion into those knees, too.

Best,
Dave

bcooke · Post by **bcooke** » Sun Aug 01, 2004 8:10 am

Good advice Dave, I am going to worry about that now until Monday morning. The knees never really entered my thought process but it makes sense and fits the scenario with the loose bolt I found. I guess the news is bound to get worse for a while before it gets better.

-Britton

Dave, 397 · Post by **Dave, 397** » Sun Aug 01, 2004 2:19 pm

The good news...is that the tabbing and glass over them--at least on mine--was not only water-perished and weakend, it was a lot less thich than it looked, and they removed easily with a cutoff disc in a die grinder. It's pretty straightforward from there to smooth out the sides with a grinder or a beltsander so that they can be used directly as a pattern to cut out the new parts.

Dave

bcooke · Post by **bcooke** » Wed Aug 04, 2004 8:42 pm

Replacing the knees just went on my "to do" list. They are not exactly mush but an awl quickly turned the 3/8 inch hold into something like 1 inch. I know the first time the boat lays on her sides I would be wondering about those knees. The aft stay knee along the transom had broken loose too. Hopefully they will go as easy as you say. Thanks for the heads up.

-Britton

bcooke · Post by **bcooke** » Wed Aug 04, 2004 8:56 pm

Oh, and my knees are made of plywood. Seems Pearson must have made the switch after they put yours together.

-Britton

Dave, 397 · Post by **Dave, 397** » Thu Aug 05, 2004 1:32 pm

Compared to the rest of what I have been going thru on this boat...they were a relative dream!

This boat is gonna kill me before I am done, I swear. Right now it's still a lot like "Monster Garage" or "Monster House" except there is only one of me most of the timeand we are perennially stuck at the beginning of 'Day Five'.

Our Boat
Was Plain and Simple
She Was Safe and Normal
She was Nice and Sweet
But we All Agreed
She could Use a Change
And then Something Happened
That was Very Strange
All these Tarps Went Up
And the Dust Was Flyin'
And I Felt Like Cryin'
Till the Job Was Done
Now she's a Monster Boat
She's a Monster Boat
She's a Monster Boat
And We All Just Love It
She's a Monster Boat

Dave

Post by **Tim** » Sat Aug 21, 2004 11:17 am

Fasteners are a small enough expense in the scheme of things that I would advocate using new in almost every case, unless there's a compelling reason to reuse anything existing.

But this attitude also tends to lead to an unhealthy drain on the checkbook over the course of the project, so beware!

Mixing metals in an envirnoment such as your properly-rebedded chainplates is not a big deal, I don't think. If the area is dry and out of the weather, those galvanic effects are not going to happen. You need the addition of water--particularly salt water--to really get any action going.

And the whole thing is overblown to begin with. Any deterioration will occur over many years, if at all...and you'll be checking all these bolts and other fasteners regularly, unlike the previous neglectful owners, right? :<)

No matter what you do, or with which materials, there's never, ever any "set it and forget it" when it comes to any part or system on any boat. Continual maintenance and inspection is always required!