The photos below show the newly installed 1.5 inch wide X 3/16-inch thick chainplates #316 stainless steel, polished with mirror finish from top to second hole. These photos show chainplates before deck paint (beige) and gelcoat (white) touch-up and installation of #316 stainless cover plates. Chainplates are bedded in 3M 5200. Covers will be bedded with polysulfide. The original bronze chainplates were 1.25 inches wide X 3/16 inch thick. The partially decomposed deck core adjacent to the chainplate slots and screw holes was removed with progressively larger bent nails in a hand power drill. The debris was then vacuumed from the slot.
The bottom of the slots was plugged from below with West Systems epoxy thickened with colloidal silica. Twenty-four hours later, unthickened epoxy was injected into the slot and into the (now core-less) screw holes and this was followed by forcing colloidal silica-thickened West Systems epoxy into the three holes ( slot and two screw holes) until it began to come out of the others. I used a putty knife, a squeegee to force the epoxy into the slot and screw holes, and pushed the epoxy down and out into the core with probing tools. The squeegee allowed me to force epoxy through all three holes simulataneously. The putty knife permitted me to foce epoxy in one hole at a time.
I then cut the new slots by drilling two pilot holes and then after ensuring that the holes were where I wanted them, I increasing the bit size to slightly less than 3/16 inch. Checking the location of the holes as I went was critical because some of my original chainplates had bends in them and because I reinforced the plywood bulkheads with 9 oz cloth and epoxy.
I then cut a narrow rectangular slot between the two drill holes. Finally, I used one narrow and one wider flat file to enlarge the slot for the new chainplates. When the slots were complete, I dry fitted the chainplates and bolted them in place. I then inspected each slot. I found one void at the top of the port forward lower knee, which was left by the manufacturer. I filled this void with thickened epoxy. I then adjusted the slot width by marking the precise slot width that I wanted with masking tape, removing the chainplates and backfilling the slots with thickend epoxy to the border of the tape. A small amount of file work was required the next day before bedding the plates. My objective was to align the new slots perfectly with the bulkheads/knees so that the chainplates fit flat against them with out having to bend the plates. The only significant problem that I encountered was with the port forward lower plate, which bolts to a knee that was at a wacky angle. This was not he case on the starboard forward lower knee.
My original chainplates did not conform to the drawing in the Ariel Association's manual. Mine were were longer. The holes were in similar, but not precise locations from chainplate to chainplate, so each chainplate had to be drilled separately. The originals were not all exactly the same length. Dry-fitting is a must. Which side of the new chainplates faced forward made a difference when matching the holes in the bulkheads. In some cases, the three holes were in alignment, but the line was not the centerline of the chainplate. In other cases one of the three holes was out of alignment. The differences were slight, but significant, because I was using the original bolt holes in the bulkheads and knees.
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