raslocum
Member I
I made a surprising discovery on my e-25 while working on replacing the forward bulkhead just below the mast step. Once the bulkhead was removed, I discovered a stress crack on my starboard side chainplate that had progressed almost completely through the entire strap. I'd guess that less than 1/8" of solid metal remained before the entire strap sheared off. As often as I have sailed this boat, I can't imagine how it didn't fail. The scary thing is that the crack was concealed by the thickened area of the fiberglass ceiling around the bulkhead. If not for the bulkhead project, I would have never known it was there till my entire mast and rigging failed under sail.
I doubt I could find this as a replacement part. If anybody knows differently, I'd love some advice. I'm assuming I'll have to fabricate it. So...... Any advice on spec's for the replacement metal? The biggest reason I'm asking this was that I naturally assumed this was stainless steel. This strap has corrosion on it though. It's shiny like it's chrome plated, but you can see rust in the bolt holes, and in the crack running through it. I'll post a pic of it tomorow.
I doubt I could find this as a replacement part. If anybody knows differently, I'd love some advice. I'm assuming I'll have to fabricate it. So...... Any advice on spec's for the replacement metal? The biggest reason I'm asking this was that I naturally assumed this was stainless steel. This strap has corrosion on it though. It's shiny like it's chrome plated, but you can see rust in the bolt holes, and in the crack running through it. I'll post a pic of it tomorow.