#chainplates

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Chainplates: The other day we were alerted to the fact that we might have an issue with our chainplates as we found water captivated in one of the cavities. Now these bad boys are 30 years young and have done a fine job of holding our rigging up over the years. We check these annually, and at first glance you may think they look OK with just some surface rust showing around the plate, however upon removal of the sika on top of the dress plate we found signs of pitting and stress. If you look at the second photo you will see pitting on the left up to 3mm deep! A lot has happened in the last year. So with a 'THATS A NO, BABE' from me, and a ' NO' from Darren, it's time for us to thank this lad for his hard work and send him off to the retirement paddock. And so we have been pondering the task of pulling all of our chainplates. It's a big, messy, kinda scary job. The timing is bad as we were hoping to head off in a few weeks. And as we have discussed with a few friends, it's almost the dreaded job you just want to ignore. But we can't let this one go. Failure here would likely cost us our rig, which could hole and sink our beloved home. So, I say 'Thank You Universe' for the water the spurted into our food lockers the other day - and I post to encourage you fine sailors to keep regular checks on your chainplates. Even if they look fine from the top, take that next step and reveal what may lie beneath. . . #chainplates #keepalookoutfor #rust #stress #pitting #lovesailing #loveouryacht #sailingsvsarean (at Airlie Beach, Heart of the Reef)