New chain plate design- installed and rigged up

togve · May 18, 2011, 12:07:11 PM

Hi all

I thought I would share some news on the new chain plate install. They were all installed and rigged to the shrouds on May 6/11.

Every thing went smoothly until a few days ago. Since they were installed on May6 it has none stop rained in the lake Ontario region. As I was checking for leaks ,,, well the last chain plate I installed was leaking like a tap. I scratched my head a few time and then decided to remove the problem child from the deck . To my surprise I forgot to butyl the shroud bar. The bolts were butyled but not the bar. After a bit of ribbing by my fellow sailors I reinstalled the chain plate again this time with butyl around the shroud bar and it is still raining here and I'm happy to report that it too is now NOT leaking. Because of all the rain I have not been able to sail test the boat , but I'm hoping to, this Saturday.

I'll keep you posted after the first sail with the new plates.

Cheers:

Lance Jones · May 18, 2011, 12:58:45 PM

What's rain have to do with NOT sailing? We do it all the time in the rain. Snow and sleet too!

scotty · May 18, 2011, 07:49:10 PM

Sleet and snow in Georgia?

Say it isn't so, Lance.

togve · May 19, 2011, 08:23:09 AM

OK! I guess I deserve that. Maybe I should have you guys test the new chain plates. Bring your own foul weather gear please.

Cheers:

Rick Johnson · May 19, 2011, 10:10:43 AM

I'm ready....

scotty · May 19, 2011, 10:59:32 AM

Fowl weather gear. Very good Rick.

Rick Johnson · May 19, 2011, 11:21:18 AM

Sorry, I could not resist....

Ralph Masters · May 19, 2011, 12:58:06 PM

That is great...........

Ralph

Lance Jones · May 19, 2011, 01:10:59 PM

Yes, Virginia, SLEET AND SNOW in Georgia. Especially this year. Also, don't forget, I work for Gill. What type FOUL weather gear do I need to bring?

togve · May 20, 2011, 05:25:02 AM

Thanks for the spelling lesson, You guys are funny.

togve · January 11, 2012, 11:20:32 AM

Since last season the good old 34 has been covered up waiting for spring. In the meantime I have put the New chain plate design on youtube. The new design worked as I expected and we had some fun sailing in _ 35 not winds this past season. Next spring I will install centre Cleats in the tow rails. and I'll post the process.

Here is the link for the New chain Plate design: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXPspNbLlUk

Rick Johnson · January 11, 2012, 04:55:36 PM

So will you be making these available for the rest of us????

Dave Spencer · January 12, 2012, 03:29:57 PM

Great looking video Tony.

Thanks. Yet another thing to add to my list of things to do.

Ken Heyman · January 13, 2012, 03:31:56 AM

---a standing "ova tion" ?

Ken

togve · January 18, 2012, 08:33:40 AM

I'm not sure if I can make them available. Here is the reason why.

Not counting my time, research on stress bearing and design these chain plate cost me about $2300.00 Cd. Making 6 at a time is costly. In order for the price to go down I would have to make a hundred of them.
I made wooden prototypes first to make sure the real ones would fit. Then I made drawings from the prototypes , I made three separate prototypes before I committed to cutting the stainless.

I delivered the drawings and the prototypes to a machine shop (The stainless shop) north of Toronto. They used another machine shop next door that has a laser cutting machine and they provided the stock stainless, 316 to my specifications. Then I had to go across town to find a polishing place . It turned out that the most expensive part of this build was the polishing. Although they did a good job but it is expensive to get a mirror finish on the inside plates and the top plates $30.00 per side.
Then I had to source a toggle for the inside. After two months of searching I found a company in England that has a few hundred of these toggles and they threaded the 1 inch pin for me to the 5/8 Nc for free. Normally these toggles would cost about $250.00 each.

The laser cutting shop also shortened my rods and re-threaded them on their CNC machine. They messed one up and I had to take it to an other machine shop to clean the treads so it would take the Nylock nut.

Aside from preparing the deck holes and slot. I carefully studied the effect of loading the deck. Now with the large plate topside I could tighten these plates as much as I wanted , partly to created a seal with the gasket and butyl and partly to stiffen the boat. I was very careful to apply the correct amount of torque so as to not cause to much stress on the hull deck joint. I measured very carefully with dial indicators the deflection of the deck and hull before cumming to my conclusion.

These new chain plate function differently from the old ones so the installation is very important as you might understand.

I'm working on an instructional video to show how to install these chain plates step by step.

I realize most people are not as obsessed as I am when it comes to this sort of stuff but I was so disappointed in the original design that I thought it was ass backwards and it did not have to be. I like the 34 so much. It's a great boat for the lake here that I just wanted to take a great boat and make it perfect.

If you have access to a machine shop you could have these made yourself but just make sure they use good Stainless steel and that the welding on the top plate is well done. Also the outside finish should be as close to mirror as possible especially if you are going ocean sailing the salt will deposit on the nicks and carneys of the stainless and eventually it will pit too.

I would also change the bolts to studs so as to eliminate the chance that water can get under the bolt head on the top plate. Alternately you can weld the bolt heads on the plates which I may do at the end of next season. Studs though, is a much cleaner look, they will be unnoticeable from the top after the plates have been polished. This will add to the cost.

Sorry for the long winded response.

Cheers: