joining bronze...

[Rockter]

In desperation, I am going to have to make some wee cups that are to be fitted below my long-suffering chaniplates to stop the leaks getting to the accomodation. I simply cannot stop the leaks unless I tear up the decks.

I have got a supplier of phosphor bronze sheeting, but I know nothing of how to "weld" it. Do I braize it? Do I solder it?

How could I fabricate three wee cups with a drainage hole in the bottom to duct the water away by tubing? I can measure, and cut the sheeting, but I know little of bronze and don't know how to join the edges to form the cups.

Thanks.

Rockter.

[DelmarRey]

Do you have any pictures? Are there any plates on deck that go around the chainplates? What brand/size of boat is this?

The reason chain plates leak is b/c they, or the deck moves. So one has to build a system that will allow the movement or stop the movement. The one for you depends on the design. Or you may have a fastener problem that needs to be fixed.

[Rockter]

delmarrey :

The ship is a Union Polaris 36.
I have owned it for 19 years and the chainplates have always leaked.
I have tried repeatedly to solve it and cannot.

[DelmarRey]

Originally Posted by Rockter

delmarrey :

The ship is a Union Polaris 36.
I have owned it for 19 years and the chainplates have always leaked.
I have tried repeatedly to solve it and cannot.

Humm! A lot like the Hans C. So the plates go down along the inside of the gunrail. So, all the water runs down the deck and settles right over the plates. I'm assuming this is a FG construction vessel.

I'm surprised you don't have some core problems after all this time. If it's teak decked it's a hard project but not impossible.
If glass decked it's a simple fix. You would just epoxy/glass in some damns around the plates and when finished with paint and all, fill the damns with 3M-4200. But it would all have to dry out first. Your lucky to have bronze plates. SS may have failed by now. As the boat moves and twists the 4200 would be massive enough to take any movement w/o pulling loose. Kind of like a vulcanized motor mount.

[sawingknots]

silver solder would be the best means of fabricating sheet bronze

[Rockter]

Thanks guys.
The chainplates are stainless. I have not looked at them for a while, and will soon, evidently. Last time (1998) they were not in bad shape.
The decks are still the original teak-over-glass-over-balsa-over-glass-over lining.
I have been living with leaking decks since the day I bought it.
Maybe I should reach for the crowbar and begin the long haul to glassing them over, but maybe not quite yet. They seem sound, structurally.
In March, the ship moves to West Scotland to a boatyard I trust.
I will improve the ship then, but I will not try to make her perfect. She's getting on a bit for that, and it would take too long.

I will use silver solder then, Sawingknots. Thanks.

[knothead]

Rockter, I can't believe that you're going to make wee little cups to collect the water that leaks around your stainless chainplates that you've not checked 13 or 14 years.
Surely you jest.

[LakeSuperiorGeezer]

Maybe you can have it done this way: MIG welding bronze - YouTube By the way, maybe you should consider silicon bronze chainplates

[Rockter]

Knothead :

Come on now, my friend.
I tried three times to beat it. I cannot.
The last three times I took those chainplates out, I saw no cracking.
The only alternative is to tear the decks up and glass them, and even that may not solve it. Scuppers are another source. Cap rail is another. Sail track another.
The builder is supposed to have done all that for me, but didn't.
He even did me the huge service of welding my stainless water tank with chromium-depleted electrodes. Can you imagine?
Welcome to Tiawanese build quality, 1977 version.

New bonded teak decks (glued on, but thinner than original) are $20,000.
Glassing is about 1/3 of that, but I'd lose my decks.
You have to live with, sometimes.

I have tried to, but the internals are getting damp, too often, and I have little alternative but to duct the water away where it can do less harm.

Rockter.

[sailor50]

Try removing the first few pieces of teak decking around the chainplates.

You will have to scarf the edges to remove the polymer - but you will find if the balsa is wet, the fiberglass wet, and if it has a mold layer.

Perhaps the water is coming in from an alternate source, ie., the partners. Doesn't sound like you want to be invasive but your cup solution is not going to really solve your problem.

Nothing smells worse in a boat than stale water drained to the bilge!