As part of routine maintenance it is important to check and tighten the chainplate bolts on your boat. On Aeolus I had previously upgraded my chainplates to a thicker steel, going from 1/8 to 3/16, as by the time I removed the original ones I felt there was no need to trust them further. I replaced these back in 2011 and have not touched them since.
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| New in 2011 and not tightened since |
So yesterday I pulled off the covers and put a socket on them and found them all about a turn or two loose. If not checked, loose bolts can eventually allow the bolts to place their force only on the edge of the bolt hole in the bulkhead, which will expand and strip the hole to failure. It's only by having the bolts tight that the forces are spread and shared across a large enough area to be structurally sound.
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| Stbd access is behind a box not shown |
