Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page. As I could see after removing of the wooden cover and the faux leather at least two of the shrouds did get leaky over time allowing small amounts of water penetrate the cabin. Shrouds deviate those forces into the chain plates which for themselves should be fitted tightly to the hull where the forces will be finally absorbed. Instead of silicone one should utilize marine sealants based on polyurethane such as made by 3M or the all-time classic Sicaflex.

As a sailing yacht is sailing, different forces are applied to the whole system of standing rigging all the time. Depending on the strength of the winds and if the boat is on starboard- or port-tack, the shrouds will have to cope with very different amounts of strain. This distributes the load across the hull, making it possible for a somewhat lighter hull to support the load of the shrouds and stays. As I was taking off the chain plates from the outside I could already spot the dark brown color of rotten wood. Rot spores travel with water migration, you may think you got it all and 6 months to a year you have rot forming again.Number 1, there is a good chance of crevice corrosion on some bolts and definitely where the chain plate passes through the deck. when the assembly is dis-assembled, I would consider non destructive testing of the chainplate itself. I also found out that the wood extends to the level were you put the cushions, and not bellow, as you can see in the pictures. Eventually I had them disassembled and took of the counterparts of the chain plates and had a look: Though made of stainless steel I could spot a lot of rust but I´m pretty confident that this is just superficial and wouldn´t be a problem to remove.

I decided to have a layer or two of Pre-Kote paint applied to the beams later for two reasons: First is to seal off the pure GRP-surface from potential future drops of leaking moisture coming over the chain plates into the inside, a second one is to have a clean start and a new indicator if – in some years to come – I do check the chain plates again and will thus be able to quickly distinguish new leaks from the old ones.Steves comment " In my experience I have fitted several of these and each time I lost 1 or all of the nuts of the back, this then inolves drilling 3 holes in the deck to form a slot and taping on a nut to a spanner to re-fit plate. On port side I found the core of the roof gone in a radius of up to 10 centimeters, starboard side is a bit less severe but again I too out a lot of wet shreds of rotten Balsa wood.

Mine is 40 years old so it was no surprise finding that I should take a look onto the chain plates of the yacht too. If I want to remove and replace the piece of wood on both sides, what kind of solid wood would bond better to the side of the hull?

As a yachtmaster you should pay close attention to seal your chain plates both on the roof of your cabin as well as in the duct itself and finally down inside in the cabin itself. The chain plates are made of Niro-steel and a duct through the cabin roof where they are attached to massive beams made of glass-reinforced fiber which are laminated into the outer shell of the hull. Being in the midst of the refit of my King´s Cruiser 33 sailing yacht a lot of items have been crossed off my list indeed. The chain wall staple anchor has been made with galvanised plated zinc for corrosion resistant and weatherproof.