I was alarmed to see water trickling in to the basin from around the chain plate fitting on saturday when sailing to Dartmouth in a gusty force 5-7. A tame surveyor looked at the plates the following morning and recommends removing them for inspection this winter. Has anyone else had any probem with them? There is no flexing of the bulkhead and the boat is in very good condition otherwise.
Kate Hattersley

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Yes,

I had the same problem, I think that it was due to ageing sealant, - quite easily fixed. Dont leave it as it is ! Unscrew the plate on the top of the deck and lever it up with a flat blade screwdriver- scrape out and replace the old sealant.

Ray Edge

Parker 275 (4) 'Rascal'


Ray Edge

Hello Kate. Same story here. The survey report for the P275 we purchased suggested a leak on the port side plate. We simply applied sealant on the deck level around the fitting. It came back again some years later but a little more sealant did the trick. Cheers-Ken
Ken Surplice

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Kate

On my 275 I had a lot of problem with the port chain plate and on mine the deck plate is fixed to the main shroud anchor plate so you can't and shouldn't prise it up. I tried to cure it by taking the whole shroud plate off -(keeping the mast up with the halyards) and refitting the sealant around the whole fitting. This eventually leaked again. So now I do roughly what Ken does but dig out old selant from underneath the deck plate and refill it. This time it has lasted two years, which is good. On the starboard side I have had no problems - yet!

Tim
Tim Reeder

The surveyor is right. I had no signs of water entering but there was some staining of the wood on my Superseal 26.

The lower three bolts om both sides were in good condition; one however, was wet, with a rusty liquid.

The pan head setscrews through the headlining were completly corroded and the remnants impossible to remove.

Although there was sealant under the deck plate there was no sign of any between the deck plate and the chainplate. There is also no balsa visible between the inner and outer deck mouldings.

This will all need treatment with epoxy as soon as it is warm enough. The mast has been lowered.
Frank Marsden

James

I have had the same problem with both chainplates on my 275, I removed the old sealant cleanit off before adding more sealant although let it set with the chainplate not bolted in place and slightly higher than bolt holes. once it was set I forced the fitting down and replaced the bolts. this will allow for movemnet without disterbing the sealant. there is also non-setting sealant avalable which would be ideal for this.

I hope this helps.
James

Thanks folks for your feedback. For info I had th yard take out the plates and check them and the bolts. All well so they replaced them with new sealant. So far no leaks although we only had one serious thrash this year so no real test for the plates!
Kate Hattersley

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