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Chainplate U-Bolts

Baslin

Member III
After inspecting the deck u-bolts that attach to the chainplate, I noticed the aluminum blocks have some corrosion and pitting. Also, if you look at the picture, one of the blocks seems to have either split or corroded and is pulling away from the deck.

has anyone tried to source these aluminum blocks? I know rig rite shows to have them or at least they are listed in the catalog. I’m sure they want an arm, a leg and a kidney for all 6......
923ACFD2-6FE0-462F-ADD4-98EE901A0FB0.jpg
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Afrakes

Sustaining Member
Aluminum rigging blocks

You can purchase aluminum stock and make your own. Or take one to your local metal working shop and get a quote.
 

Christian Williams

E381 - Los Angeles
Senior Moderator
Blogs Author
Hard to see the split in the photos. If split, I'd replace it.

The corrosion doesn't look that significant, to me at least.
 

Frank Langer

1984 Ericson 30+, Nanaimo, BC
Hi,
Although I was fairly certain that my chain plates weren't leaking, this is such a common problem area that I wanted to be very sure. Although they looked ok, I drilled a few 1/8" holes through the underside of the deck (the area in your pictures) about 1/4" deep, so just penetrating through the lower fibreglass and slightly into the core. When I withdrew the drill bit, I could see a small amount of the core in the spiral of the drill bit. It looked completely dry, confirming that there was no leakage there. I have since drilled a few similar holes near all the deck fittings, not only to check them, but also, if they do begin to leak, water will drip out of those holes, so it's like an early warning system. Checking each of those holes a couple times a year for any signs of moisture takes only a few minutes, but gives me peace of mind. The 1/8" holes in the underlying fibreglass are hidden under the headliner, and are small enough to not affect the strength or any other concerns.

Just a thought for you to get further information on whether moisture is contributing to your corrosion (which doesn't look too serious in my opinion, though I agree with Christian that any block or backing plate with a crack needs to be replaced).

Frank
 
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Afrakes

Sustaining Member
Aluminum rigging blocks

I have three of them if you have a need. They were removed from my salt water exposed 81' E-28+. One has minor corrosion damage. The other two moderate corrosion damage.
 

Baslin

Member III
I have three of them if you have a need. They were removed from my salt water exposed 81' E-28+. One has minor corrosion damage. The other two moderate corrosion damage.



I may take you up on that...I can really only see 2 of the aluminum blocks that may need to be replaced and depending on which ones. I believe some of the blocks are machined for a specific angle of the interior chainplate connecting rods.
 

Slick470

Member III
Rig-Rite shows them on their website, but apparently, they only have a few specific sizes and rod angles still in stock. If you can figure out exactly what you need, you can contact them, and they will respond back IF they have what you need. If they don't have it, they probably won't bother letting you know. At least that is how it worked for me when I tried contacting them. I appreciate that they still keep things on their website for research purposes though.

Ours still had lots of material left and most likely would have lasted for years to come, but it was noticeably corroded. So, with Rig-Rite being a bust, we had a local rigger have one fabricated for us. They had already done a set of these for another Ericson so seemed like a good bet to have the new one fabricated for ours. They did ours in stainless, which is probably overkill, but given our new deck bolts are stainless, as well as the chainplate rod, it seemed like a good idea to keep everything in as close to the same galvanic scale as possible.

Yours look to be in pretty good shape still though. I'd probably try removing them and getting them cleaned up before committing to replacing them. Regardless, you will want to seal up the deck leak that is causing the corrosion.

Good luck.
 
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Afrakes

Sustaining Member
Blocks

I may take you up on that...I can really only see 2 of the aluminum blocks that may need to be replaced and depending on which ones. I believe some of the blocks are machined for a specific angle of the interior chainplate connecting rods.

Mine are flat and the hole for the tension rod is machined at an angle. If you need a replacement I'd lean toward getting a local machine shop to fabricate one.
 

Baslin

Member III
Rig-Rite shows them on their website, but apparently, they only have a few specific sizes and rod angles still in stock. If you can figure out exactly what you need, you can contact them, and they will respond back IF they have what you need. If they don't have it, they probably won't bother letting you know. At least that is how it worked for me when I tried contacting them. I appreciate that they still keep things on their website for research purposes though.

Ours still had lots of material left and most likely would have lasted for years to come, but it was noticeably corroded. So, with Rig-Rite being a bust, we had a local rigger have one fabricated for us. They had already done a set of these for another Ericson so seemed like a good bet to have the new one fabricated for ours. They did ours in stainless, which is probably overkill, but given our new deck bolts are stainless, as well as the chainplate rod, it seemed like a good idea to keep everything in as close to the same galvanic scale as possible.

Yours look to be in pretty good shape still though. I'd probably try removing them and getting them cleaned up before committing to replacing them. Regardless, you will want to seal up the deck leak that is causing the corrosion.

Good luck.

Slick,

Thanks for the response...Once I get the blocks pulled I will be able to really investigate their condition and then make a decision. I like the idea of having new ones machined
 

bigd14

Contributing Partner
Blogs Author
I had new ones machined at a local shop. They got the angle and the surface matched to the rod head right, but one of the holes was drilled too deep, leaving marginal threads on the rod at the other end to tension it up. They made some cup washers to fill the gap but I didn't like the fit. Luckily I had about 1.5 extra threads which was all I needed. They used some kind of "special" aluminum alloy which is supposedly stronger than standard aluminum. So far so good.
 
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