CD 28 Chain Plates

[Pembquist]

I closed the deal on a 1977 CD 28 and the big need to fix are the chain plates. I've searched online and on this forum and I confess I don't seem to be good at that as I've only come up with 4 repairs; 3 outside straps, one bronze 2 stainless, and one internal repair that used knees made out of G10 glassed in with some sort of stainless weldment or bracket bolted to them. Since this seems like an inevitable replacement for these boats I was surprised I didn't find more. Many ads for the boats don't mention it either. Would it be obnoxious to pm CD 28 owners to ask them if they have replaced their chainplates? The bronze strap repair gets high marks for simplicity but I am wondering why I couldn't just do the same thing as original but in Aluminum (6061), Stainless could be an option but it would be a lot harder to work with. What I don't know is if there is a corrosion problem if you encapsulate Al or Stainless. Also I don't know if work hardening is an issue.

What I would like to get is an idea of what owners have done to address this problem. Also did they ever change the design on the 28? I understand that on the 30 they started using Al at some point but the 1986 manual section drawing details are not that informative. The older steel drawings aren't that great either, they don't show the weird little L stubs made out of rebar.

What I don't get is why it seems like they didn't even galvanize the steel. Mild steel is a great, forgiving material but seriously, no corrosion protection on a sailboat?

[Carl Thunberg]

A quick search of the archives for key words "chainplate" and "rust" came up with 55 results. I think you'll find we've kicked this topic around some. For what it's worth, they're really not chainplates at all. They're backing plates. This problem is not unique to the CD28.

Consider this question: How long did the old ones last? Maybe Cape Dory knew what they were doing after all.

[Pembquist]

Thanks for the reply, I've looked through the posts and unfortunately I'm not finding anything more than I already have. There is a bit of confusion as some of the fittings are described as aluminum backing plates, some as steel backing plates, and some as that which is in my boat a weldment of steel and rebar intended to transfer the load to the hull independently of the hull/deck flange connection. It would be very helpful to hear from people who have gone through the experience of replacing the same hardware that is on my boat.

[moctrams]

This guy replaced his on a CD28.

http://www.sbastro.com/FeNIX/mainFrameSet.htm

More:

http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/f55 ... +Emails%29

[jbenagh]

some of the fittings are described as aluminum backing plates, some as steel backing plates, and some as that which is in my boat a weldment of steel and rebar

When Peter Hunt surveyed my CD30 he said that during his time at Cape Dory he saw all three of those methods used. He didn't think there was any preference for any one method.
Jeff