chainplate hump

[lateron]

Hi ........bit worried as I have noticed a slight hump in the deck at the starboard chainplates [ SO 32 2004].
There are a few fine cracks. I have had the rig checked and all seems well except for this. It may be water ingress into the balsa core.
Anybody had experience of something similar?
Thanks Ron

[lateron]

Me again...........actually having looked at my info ,it seems likely that there is a plywood pad under the chainplate fittings and I guess it may have been 'blown' by water ingress lifting the deck slightly. At least you can take the cabin under deck lining off to inspect, which is what I will do next. Again anybody out there with any knowledge of the extent of a repair?
thanks Ron

[frankc64]

Sorry, no experience with this but paying close attention as I just took ownership of a 2003 SO32. I've only heard of this sort of issue if the shrouds had been too tight. Please keep us posted.

[lateron]

Hi Frank........the riggers don't seem as worried as I am and they say the rig is correct. I have them check it each year. So I guess something else has happened though not sure how or what. Fortunately you can access the chainplates under the unscrewable underdeck liner so I intend to do that asap and maybe get the yard surveyor to have a look . Will keep you posted if you like but it may be a few days. In all respects the boat is great and I like it a lot.
Regards Ron

[lateron]

Hi Frank ..........regarding the hump. I went to the boat, unscewed and removed the lining under sidedeck and revealed the arrangements for the 'chainplates'. Basically it is 2 large U bolts through the deck, through some thick kind of composite backing material [not plywood] and through a substantial steel plate which also has a stanchion bolted through it.
No sign of any movement or cracking or water!!
To be on the safe side I got the yard shpwright boss/surveyor to inspect it which he did free of charge.
He concluded that all was well, nothing had moved 'since the boat had been launched'. However the few little cracks and slight hump were in his view down to the interior bolts being cranked up a bit tight in constuction and over 10 years that has squeezed the ubolts together minimally. Anyway he was happy with the whole thing and the riggers confirm that no movement has occurred in the rig. SO CARRY ON SAILING.

Great to be able to just un do a few screws on the inner lining and gain access to the whole workings of the underdeck.

Regards Ron

[frankc64]

Thanks Ron. So it sounds like the u-bolts had been tightened such that the outside structure had been drawn into the deck a bit. The slight hump would be the displacement of the 'draw-down'. Do I understand that correctly?

[lateron]

Hi Frank...........I'm not an expert in matters like this but yes I think that what you are suggesting is correct. The expert who inspected it was of the opinion that all was well and just keep an eye on that bit of the deck,but that the overall structure was strong and stable. So for now I shall just leave it. Not sure what would happen if the bolts were slightly loosened from inside. Doesn't sound like something I would be messing with.
All the best Ron.

[kenlewis40]

Hi Ron

Was the lining under the side deck just screwed or screwed and velcroed/glued. Also, did you take any pictures, which would be useful.
I intend to look at my SO32 this winter, although I have no sign of any problems.
Regards Ken

[lateron]

Hi Ken............the side lining is held in place by screws into a wooden frame under the deck just pop off the screw covers. A 2 minute job to take off and put back. I should have taken some photos but was so relieved to find no problems it went out of my head. But it's interesting to see the underlying structure of the boat and great that Jeanneau have made things so accessible.
If there is balsa core in the deck it is quite thin and looks mainly glass to me.
All the best Ron

[bartb]

Hi,  I am looking at the SO 40 and found this blog:
It seems the owner had similar issues and fixed it:
santosha.info/html/int__chainplates.html

hope it helps

[On y va]

Feb 26, 2016 15:55:04 GMT bartb said:

Hi,  I am looking at the SO 40 and found this blog:
It seems the owner had similar issues and fixed it:
santosha.info/html/int__chainplates.html

hope it helps

This post on the SO40 is not the same issue as lateron has. On the SO40, this was only a specific issue on earlier models, where the small forward "baby stays" to the first spreaders were just supported by the deck, rather than by a chainplate fixed to a bulkhead. Jeanneau had made a refit kit available for this problem, but it has nothing to do it the main side stay chain plates or deck brackets.

In laterons case and of what I read I am thinking more about the pre-tension of the chain plate rods that may not being correct, although it does seem somewhat unlikely it would have left the Jeanneau factory like that. Your rigging maybe fine, but if the (pre)tension or tightening position on the chain plate rods is not sufficient, it could cause some deformation of the deck. But I am not sure how the main side stay supporting structure is exactly on the 32. Do you have metal rods coming down from deck level?

[tilo]

If you hit the hump lightly with a hammer does it sound hollow? If so, the buckling of the deck has created a void. You could consider injecting some epoxy into the void a) to improve the stability and b) to prevent any water entering. Just thinking out loud, here.
Tilo