Post 21: Preparing to Remove the Port Bulkhead for Replacing

A previous owner seems to have done some updating to the chainplates. They had beefed up the fittings and they would have worked well for a long time – except that the bulkhead had been submerged for an unknown number of years and it is delaminating. I like the repair the previous owner had done and I will use the same technique.  They fabricated two upside down “T’s” and sandwiched them on either side of the bulkhead, creating a much stronger fitting.

They made a nice teak cover for the aft side of the new chain plates. There is another matching “T” on the forward side of the bulkhead.

I removed the chain plates and prepped to removed the entire bulkhead. The bulkhead replacement will be another post in the future. I did find a supplier in Riviera Beach, FL,  (http://www.worldpanel.com/) that will ship a 5′ X 10′ X 3/4″ nice piece of marine Okoume straight to the storage yard. I lost my nice plywood that I got in Baltimore from McIlvain (see my Post 9) … that’s another story….