Cape dory chainplates.

[Northoceanbeach]

I just bought the 28, but the chainplates may be similar on all cape dories.

Mine are pretty well hidden. To port they are in the hanging locker and starboard almost completely hidden behind the vanity I believe it's called. From the port sette or the v berth you can shine a flashlight in there and barely make them out.

I'm wondering my condition and if they are original.

Contrary to most chainplates I have had where they run vertical along a bulkhead or the hull, mine are flat plates laid up under the deck very close to where to hull to deck joint is.

Normal? How well do these hold up? Normally I would like to pull them and inspect them where they pass through the deck but these don't look so easy.

I forgot the stays. The forestay is obvious, and I will be pilling that plate here shortly when I replace my bowsprit. The back stay is completely hidden and appears to have no way to ever remove it without cutting a hole in the fiberglass.

The bizarre thing about my boat is that again, unlike other boats, there really aren't any gelcoat stress cracks or spider webbing around pulpit bases,'stanchions, or shrouds. I've never seen a boat that didn't have stress cracks at least around a stanchion!

Cape Dories are supposed to be tough as nails, should I not be concerned?

While the boat is obviously built to high standards, I think the gauge of the wire looks thin but who am I?

[Ron M.]

Not sure of the backstay fixture on the 28. On the 30 it is a steel plate with a u shaped re-bar welded to it and embedded in fiberglass inside the stern. It could be removed with some cutting.
Stanchions are bolted thru the hull/deck joint which is solid fiberglass/roving extending about 3" in ward of the toe rail.
Chainplates were commonly angle iron with welded j legs glassed in. As said in past posts access can be gained by cutting an opening in the liner.
Condition is dependent sealant mostly.
The CD 28 Manual should have most of these details diagramed, and I believe can be downloaded from this site.

[Rebinva]

You can get to the back stay fixture by getting in a cockpit locker and contorting yourself to some degree. My fixture was in very good shape, especially compared to the forestay fitting. I just coated it with Ospho a couple of times. Probably time to do that again, arrrguhhhhh.

[hilbert]

The back stay is completely hidden and appears to have no way to ever remove it without cutting a hole in the fiberglass.

I found that it was accessible from the lockers:

[Steve Laume]

I have mentioned this a couple of times before. To get to Raven's backstay chain plate, manual bilge pump, bilge blower, cowl vent hoses and shore power connection, I installed an 8" inspection plate in the vertical surface of the foot well. It has come in very handy for getting to all of the aforementioned items.

One more hole in the boat makes for far fewer trips into the cockpit locker, Steve.