I have two of these fine boats – one is a fin keeler built in 1975, built and finished by Newbridge for the boatshow (its sail number 242 and is the one on the Newbridge brochure – see the website history section) and one is a bilge keeler from about 1980.

I assume Newbridge wanted the boat show example to be as good as it could be and as intended – and here the chainplates are 6mm U bolts fastened through the deck only. In fact, they have been completely glassed over – Newbridge glassed the deck to hull join completely – so its difficult to tell if there is any form of backing spreading the U bolt loading. Im assuming there is – but during this boats refit over the next year, I will be grinding back to find out.
The Bilge keeler is probably home finished – as the finished equipment count and quality is certainly much less than the boat show version (which had absolutely everything you can think of) – but on this version, there are also 6mm U bolts, this time backed with marine ply spreaders. The bilge keeler deck to hull join was obviously done before the U bolt chainplates were fitted as its not glassed over. However, on this version, the deck to hull join glassing is a bit thin – looks like a single layer of roving.

I’m replacing the U Bolts with 8mm versions on the bilge keeler complete with 25mm wide stainless steel straps as per the article on this site. However, I remain concerned about the integrity of the deck to hull join on both boats – and am adding glassed in vertical straps in a number of places along the join for peace of mind on the bilge keeler. I have yet to decide what to do with the fin keeler.

By the way, its nearly relevant as it involves the deck to hull join, but Ive stripped the old Iroko rubbing strake off the bilge keeler. It virtually fell off – it was only riveted on and there was virtually nothing left of the rivets. Useful to do this job as well – Robbins in Bristol have made me great replacements.

Best,
Charles
“Dream On” and “Polly Anna”

I’m wondering what the original chainplate fitting was for these boats? Was the default fitting a plate bonded through the deck only, or was there a strap bonded to the hull? In kit boats, was the fitting of the chainplates left to the discretion of the owner/builder? I’m looking at an example in which the chainplates are bonded through the deck only, and I’m trying to figure out whether this is the standard way of securing the shouds.

GJW