30+ port side chainplate access

[bolbmw]

After observing some minor water ingress by a port side chainplate attached to the bulkhead, now that it's the rainy season here, I want to go ahead and prepare to re-bed all of the chainplates. The challenge is I have no idea how one is supposed to access all four nuts holding the U-bolts down. I can't get a good picture of it, but after sticking my noggin into the cabinet in the head, I can see there is an access hole that either a previous owner or factory roughly into place to access these. I can access one of the nuts, but there is no angle or method to get a wrench over the other. I'm not sure how you can access these without drastically cutting away more headliner.

For those of you that have removed this big chainplate, how did you do it?

 

[sailorman37]

After observing some minor water ingress by a port side chainplate attached to the bulkhead, now that it's the rainy season here, I want to go ahead and prepare to re-bed all of the chainplates. The challenge is I have no idea how one is supposed to access all four nuts holding the U-bolts down. I can't get a good picture of it, but after sticking my noggin into the cabinet in the head, I can see there is an access hole that either a previous owner or factory roughly into place to access these. I can access one of the nuts, but there is no angle or method to get a wrench over the other. I'm not sure how you can access these without drastically cutting away more headliner.

For those of you that have removed this big chainplate, how did you do it?

Just like you mentioned, had to get your head into the locker in the head and then two more under the head liner. Check the S.S. very carefully since the original metal is very prone to crevice corrosion. Here are pics of how I accessed mine and the damage after I removed the hardware.

 

[Frank Langer]

I think you can access all nuts for the u-bolts if you open the zipper by the port side cabin lamps above the settee. That will let you pull the u bolts so you can re bed them. That will not give you access to the larger nuts holding the metal chain plate against the bulkhead--some of those look inaccessible.
Keep us posted on what you find.
Frank

 

[bolbmw]

I'll snap some shots next time I'm down there. This chainplate has already been replaced and rebedded by a previous owner so it should be possible to get out, but for the life of me I can't figure out how they got a wrench or socket over one of these nuts. I think that may be part of the problem actually (not tightened down enough because of poor access and under stretch load the sealant has failed.)

 

[Afrakes]

Bloody nut

When I disassembled my 81' 28+ I found that one of the nuts securing one of the starboard side u-bolts was positioned exactly on the centerline of the bulkhead between the forward cabin and head. There was no way to get a wrench on it without having to cut away a portion of the bulkhead. The bulkhead had obviously been installed after the u-bolt was secured. Even after removing the nut there was no way I could get the aluminum plate off of the stainless steel bolt. After cutting the u-bolt and plate completely out of the deck I had to use an angle grinder to cut the aluminum plate to free up the bolt. The bolt looked perfect but the plate was terribly corroded. Good luck.

 

[sailorman37]

I'll snap some shots next time I'm down there. This chainplate has already been replaced and rebedded by a previous owner so it should be possible to get out, but for the life of me I can't figure out how they got a wrench or socket over one of these nuts. I think that may be part of the problem actually (not tightened down enough because of poor access and under stretch load the sealant has failed.)

I had to cut away the plastic headliner to get at those nuts. If you can make sense of these pictures the first is from the head looking up into the crack above the light and the locker sliding doors, and the second is from inside the locker. You can see how the cut-a-way extended out to get at the nuts. It's not pretty since it is near impossible working inside the locker, but it doesn't really show from head side. The forward part of the U-bolts do line up with the bulkhead so you have to loosen all nuts and lift the UBolt to take the nuts off the bolts.

 

[bolbmw]

That makes sense and looks very similar to mine, which is both reassuring and disappointing. Looks like I'm going to have to break out the tools and get to work.

 

[DougC]

E## Chain Plate Removal

When I disassembled my 81' 28+ I found that one of the nuts securing one of the starboard side u-bolts was positioned exactly on the centerline of the bulkhead between the forward cabin and head. There was no way to get a wrench on it without having to cut away a portion of the bulkhead. The bulkhead had obviously been installed after the u-bolt was secured. Even after removing the nut there was no way I could get the aluminum plate off of the stainless steel bolt. After cutting the u-bolt and plate completely out of the deck I had to use an angle grinder to cut the aluminum plate to free up the bolt. The bolt looked perfect but the plate was terribly corroded. Good luck.

Hi,

I attempted to remove the chain plates today from my 82 E33. Luckily for me access was much easier than on your boat. However like your boat it seems the stainless U bolt is welded to the aluminum backing plate. Did you cut yours with a grinder above deck? Where did you get replacement parts?

Doug Coyle Cumberland Maine

 

[Afrakes]

Salvage

Doug: As I was salvaging parts off the boat I cut the entire assembly right out of the deck. Dismantled it in the shop by cutting away the aluminum backing plate with a reciprocating saw. Saved the ubolts and nuts.

 

[sailorman37]

Back a few comments in this thread you can see I cut the top off the vertical bracket. The vertical piece was decent, but the top plate was bad. I then made up a new plate and had the local tractor shop weld it into the vertical piece for a few dollars.

Replacement U bolts from RigRite are unreasonably expensive so I had Titanium U bolts bent to the shape. I then treaded on a nut on the deck side before reassembly.