Commander #155 'Mephisto Cat'

[Rico]

The old and the new...

The original chainplate is 1/8" SS plate. I used 3/16" 316 SS plate for the new one. This was mostly because I wanted some increased torsional rigidity as I thought that this was the original design's biggest weakness. A sudden jolt that pulls in a direction that is out of line with the axis of the thin plate would make it twist and fail... Unlikely, but this is how this would fail...

In the picture, you can see the 6 little chainplates to replace the original bronze ones, and the original backstay chainplate lying between two copies of the new design. (Which I'll .pdf and post for reference.) Missing is the top plate. The one that covers-up the opening as the chainplate comes through the deck. This ia also a bit larger than the original which is only there for looks...

There are two new chainplates in the picture. I still only have one backstay, but I ended up with two copies of the new design due to an order mishap...

I cleaned & polished the tips so that they are shiny-er on top...

In the next picture you can see the finished reinforced lazarette. (Note the covered area behind the OB Well).

You can see how I ground off a portion of the lateral reinforcing in order to fit the new chainplate. In the end I covered the exposed wood with fiberglass and made up the difference by grinding a small curve into the back of the chainplate. This worked quite well...

I drilled the new holes and used SS bolts to complete the assembly.

Lastly, you can see the final results...

(See Post #37 for the files containing the template for this bigger backstay chainplate)