New Chain Plates

We're getting down to the nitty-gritty! With less than 3 weeks until launch, we're focusing on the work that HAS to be completed before Joli goes in the water.  We removed the chain plates last fall as they were original (1974) and some of them had been leaking.  There was some minor corrosion in some places and elongated bolt holes in most of the chain plates.  We delivered the old chain plates to Schaefer Marine (https://www.schaefermarine.com) in New Bedford, MA and met with Steve to discuss some changes that we wished to incorporate for the new chain plates.  The new chain plates were fabricated and shipped to Michigan the week before Easter and we picked up the 430-pound crate with Baby Huey, AKA the Party Van, at the UPS Terminal in Romulus.  Thank goodness we had help (Thanks, Hank & Bob!!) installing them because there is no way Bryan & I would have been able to do it by ourselves!  It took about 5 days total to get all nine chain plated installed and torqued.

Steve reviewed the new chain plates with us.

The OLD and the NEW

Baby Huey settled a little lower to the ground when the UPS guy loaded the 430-pound crate into the van.

Two big guys had to squeeze into a small space to maneuver the biggest chain plates into place.

We had to open up the cabinet door opening to get the chain plate in place.  No worries- we will repair it and the old speaker holes at the same time.

The new chain plates are made of stainless steel vs the old aluminum. Looks nice & shiny where they come through the deck!