Category Archives: Rigging Repair and Maintenance

General maintenance and repair to sailboat rigging.

Rudder Quadrant Modification for Autopilot

  To accommodate the new installation of the autopilot linear drive, brackets must be added to the rudder quadrant to accept the linear drive pin and rudder reference ball joint. The general layout of the parts were drawn on my … Continue reading

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Installing Raised Pads for Chain Plates

The forecast for this week is hot and dry. Of course it is hotter than I like, but I’ll take this chance to install the raised pads for the chain plates. First slots must be cut in the pad to … Continue reading

Posted in General Maintenance, Rigging Repair and Maintenance, Second Star | 1 Comment

Polishing Chain Plates

There is a God! It is truly amazing, just when I needed a big belt sander, I found one in the “free” recycle bin here at Herrington Harbour. They have two Freecycle bins at the yard and it pays to … Continue reading

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Making the Raised Deck Pads for Chain Plate Covers

With the female mold waxed and polished, the first step in making the part is to coat the mold surface with thickened and pigmented epoxy. To do this, I thicken the catalysed epoxy with West #404 and add a small … Continue reading

Posted in Hull Maintenance, Rigging Repair and Maintenance, Second Star | 2 Comments

Female Mold for Raised Chain Plate Covers

Female Mold Making – The plug in the previous post received 3 coats of Oscar’s mold wax and polished. Now a thickened coat of epoxy will be applied over the waxed plug and parting board. Making the mold a contrasting … Continue reading

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Mold Making for Raised Chain Plate Covers

Some boats, including this one have chain plate covers that attach directly to the deck, as the slots for the chain plates are cut through the deck at the attachment points. When it rains, or lots of sea water comes … Continue reading

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Reinforcement to Bulkhead Tab

The chain plates for the forward lower stays attach to a minor bulkhead separating the forward cabin form the forward head. On the port side, the tabbing where the backing plate rested were not done properly. Some of the bulkhead … Continue reading

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Long Day of Drilling

The weather was coldĀ  and windy in the morning, but the afternoon was perfect. A nice cool breeze blew, tempering the bright sun. Please, I’d appreciate more days like that.. The temperature was perfect in the afternoon. When the sun … Continue reading

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Chain Plate Sizing

The first step in machining the new chain plates is to make the blanks the correct size, in this case, 15 inches long for the minors. Today, in between the rain showers and before it got too hot, I began … Continue reading

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Chain-Plate Knee Repair

I gained access to the Starboard Chain-plate and discovered some surface corrosion but apparently no compression of the knee like what I found on the Port side lower shroud. I expect some wood inside the knee may be rotted but … Continue reading

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