Source for U-bolt chainplates

[moonie5961]

Hey classic-plastic-ers,

I'm having a hard time finding anything to replace my old chainplates. I think that these were much more common in Europe, but rarely used in North American boats. Westerly used this type of chainplate in their older boats. So far I've found only one place who sells them, but it's in the UK and they are very expensive-not to mention shipping.

This is my only lead so far:
Trafalgar Yacht Services

Thoughts on having a machine shop make some up? I do have my original ones that I would give them to duplicate. Should I just switch to a more common style? I'd like to keep this style if at all possible.

Thanks for any input!!

[Rachel]

This would be the UK, but Steve Birch from the Albin Vega association sells a number of Vega parts, and they use U-bolt style chainplates as far as I know. He seems to have shipping etc. down pat (they ship engines, etc.), so maybe it wouldn't be too bad.

Although I *think* he's okay with giving out his e-mail address, I'm not sure, so I will PM you with it. If anyone else reads this and is interested, feel free to PM me or look for Steve through the Vega association UK.

Rachel

PS: Also, although they are not U-bolt style specifically, Spartan Marine sells some bronze bolt-through-with-an-ear style chainplates (used on Cape Dorys).

Edited to add:

Here is a link to the Spartan catalog (lots of bronze goodies), and a photo of their chainplates:



http://spartanmarine.com/catalog.html

[Ryan]

Wichard Marine also sells these type of fittings.

http://www.wichard.com/menu-U_bolts-020 ... 00-me.html

Ryan

[MikeD]

I guess it's a matter of searching using the right phrase. I got one a while ago from West Marine, something like this:
http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wcs/st ... sNum=10168

Hammiton Marine is always more reasonably priced: http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wcs/st ... sNum=10168

[Peter]

There is an interesting article here on one solution.

I've been looking at various replacement options for my Vega, but have not come up with a satisfactory answer yet.
Here's a sketch of my research so far:

[moonie5961]

Peter,
Thanks! I had seen that article in my own research-it was a little scary! Both of my middle chainplates are angled inboard-possibly to avoid the sideways loading that the article spoke of? I guess it worked as the stick stayed up for 36 years now. I emailed Contest to see if there was any particular fabricator that they used when making the chainplates, their response was that they were all "Tailor made, and can be duplicated by any blacksmith".

I also emailed Trafalgar Yacht Services- probably the people who made the chainplates in the article, as (I think) they are the supplier for Westerly. They said that they would be happy to make me new beefier chainplates if I sent them my old ones, but I can feel my wallet thinning just at the thought of shipping internationally (at least) twice. Trafalgar's chainplates look beautiful- but they are pretty expensive at aprox. a hundred bucks a pop, not including shipping. I'd need 6- not including double backstays.

Do you guys think that this kind of thing can be handled by a good machine shop? Like I said, I'd rather not send these pieces of hardware on a world tour if it's something that can be handled closer to home(and less expensively). Any recommendations on excellent machine shops? I don't think that they are overly complicated... I'd just have to be sure that they are made from 316 and electropolished afterward, right?

Muchos gracias
austin

[moonie5961]

ps Peter, I just looked- you have such a cool boat!