We got back home a couple weeks ago and have had a chance to get some work done on Phoenix. First I stripped to old lines off the mast and boom, measured and ready to by replacements. The old lines were washed and retired to support roles around the house or other projects. Next I started checking out the standing rigging and came across an odd setup. There are 3 shrouds on each side, but there are only two chainplates! After much searching on the net I found from the
Alberg site that early East Coast Tritons, up to at least hull #192 only had 2 shrouds, hence two chainplates.
The P.O. had simply used a toggle to allow the
cap upper/top shroud(not cap as the shroud attaches at the level of the fore stay) and a lower shroud to share the chainplate that is inline with the mast. Not really a good idea and the old silicon-bronze(?) chainplate was worn about the clevis pin hole. Next when I pulled a the bolts on snapped off with very little torque.
So that made me abandon my initial plan to reuse the existing chainplates. Now I have a local machine shop making six new 1"x 3/16"x9.5" SS316L chainplates. I'll install the extra forward of the mast line an distance equal to the aft chainplate offset.
Hope to have the new plates in hand by next week! I also talked with the machinist about building a tabernacle but he is really busy this time of year so I'll just use a A-frame to hoist the mast into place. The
Westsail 32 service manual has a good writeup on using the tabernacle.
No comments:
Post a Comment