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Chainplate Upgrade - worth it?

PostPosted: Thu Jun 11, 2020 11:36 pm
by Nephroid
One of the items on my mini-restoration project list (https://forum.daysailer.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=6158) was to upgrade the chainplate & hardware, taking advantage of 1/4" SS bolts instead of the OEM #8 bolts. This seemed to be a popular fix and was added to my list at the recommendation of Rudy' from D&R.

Below you can see a picture of the new chainplate and backing next to the currently installed OEM.

Backing Plate 1.jpg
Despite larger diameter hardware, hole spacing on new chainplates are much closer
Backing Plate 1.jpg (30.17 KiB) Viewed 1837 times


Since the spacing is different two new holes would have to be drilled for the new plate. This made we worry that having four straight holes so close to each other would be weakening the fiberglass rail and trading one problem for another. This concern was exacerbated when comparing the new vs the original backing plate.

Backing Plate 3.jpg
New backing plate is dwarfed by the original plate
Backing Plate 3.jpg (22.33 KiB) Viewed 1837 times


Not only is the current backing plate way longer (almost 6"), but the new backing plate would sit entirely within the span of the old holes. Suddenly strengthening the stainless at the expense of weakening the fiberglass, just didn't seem like a good tradeoff.

I'm now thinking of just replacing the current OEM bolts with new SS ones and checking for corrosion. Curious to see what others have experienced here. Have folks generally experienced more failures of the fiberglass or the chainplate hardware?

Re: Chainplate Upgrade - worth it?

PostPosted: Fri Jun 12, 2020 2:25 am
by GreenLake
This is a very good question. I don't have a DSII, but I remember Tim Webb posted something about a way to beef up the backing plate. You may have to go back a bit in the forum to find it.