Bulkheads Chain Plates and Other Structural Reinforcements

For higher performance I moved the mast aft and the forestay foreword (to maintain balance) increasing the J dimension to 14'9". I had been to Toronto for the 1991 World Championships where the members of the Royal Canadian Yacht Club and the Port Credit Yacht Club treated me wonderfully, got me on a spectator boat to watch the races which was by the way, a great party! I had the opportunity to look at their fleet, to discuss the pros and cons of various rig and hardware designs with people who really knew 8 meters. They connected me with North Sails Toronto where I confirmed that a J of about 15 feet would be a good number for my boat.

To stiffen her at the mast a 3/4" marine plywood bulkhead lapped into a 2" x 2" laminated frame was added. A new set of lodging knees and hanging knees were also added near the new bulkhead. New chain plates were attached to the bulkhead. Each chain plate is made from a 3" x 3" x 3/8" stainless steel angle with a 2" x 2" stainless angle welded to it. This runs along the deck beam compressing directly against the mast partners.

Each chain plate is attached with four bolts to the bulkhead, 4 bolts to the deck beam and 2 bolts through the clamps. A tab was welded to each chain plate as close to the deck as possible and 1 1/2" stainless tension rods run from the tabs to a bolt that runs through a 2 ' long stainless steel cap that is fitted over and attached to the mast step. The cap is also attached to the bulkhead with 3 bolts on each side. This system takes most of the rigging loads off of the hull.

To strengthen the foredeck, a set of hanging knees was added at the hatch.


(Photo - Cast bronze reinforcement being removed before keel is removed)
I found a small gap (1/16") on the lower edged of the joint between the stem and the keelson. Believing this may have been caused by upward force from the forestay, I closed the gap by weighting the bow with 2 5 gallon buckets of water for many months. When the gap was closed, the leading edge was cut out to a depth of 1" from the lead to about 2 feet forward of this joint. I cast a piece of bronze to replace this piece and attached this reinforcement with 5 bolts, securing the keelson and stem.

In order to reduce the load of the forestay I fitted a 4 " sheave into the bow, ran the forestay over this and back to the stainless steel mast step cap, reducing the upward pull angle by half.

For the running back stays I replaced the Highfield levers with 2 speed, self tailing Anderson winches to allow for infinite adjustment of the stays. Spectra Line runs from a pad eye on the aft deck through a block that is attached to the back stay wire, down to another block on deck and runs to the winch. Both blocks are rated to 7,000 lb working loads.

The garboard seam was reefed and caulked with cotton. I used a pizza roller to insert a few strands of cotton between a couple of the lowest planks. Except for those few seams, because of Fife's craftsmanship the original tight seem construction needed no further attention. She got new top side enamel and Balta-plate racing bottom paint sanded to 600 grit and polished with bronze wool. You could see yourself in the bottom paint.

With these improvements the boat was incredibly stiff and she sailed like freight train. We took her to the 1994 Maple Bay Labor Day Regatta where she placed second in the big boat division. The modern 2 tons were not pleased to be beaten by a 65 year old boat. The Maple Bay Yacht Club has a long history of 6 & 8 meter racing, they were exceedingly gracious. The following year, we were able to get Concierto and Amita to Maple Bay for the race and the yacht club reinstated the 8 meter trophy for us. The trophy listed both Concierto and Sulaire as winners in races back in the 60's when there was a fleet of a dozen 8's in the northwest. in 1995 they added Amita to the trophy. But that's another story.