Note: The below was the recommendation in 2009. This has been superseded by the 2013 shroud bolts recommendation for an even stronger bolt. The information below is retained here for completeness and reference.

Chainplate Bolts Upgrade (2009)

There have been a few failures of chainplate bolt, fortunately in all cases the other bolt has held on and this has never caused a mast to fall. See the discussion thread on the forum here: http://www.mustoskiff.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=1017

There is now an upgrade kit from Ovington to sort the issue – thanks to those on the class association who did lots of research on the bolt options.

The chainplates (stainless steel bent plates fixed to the deck which hold the wire rigging port and starboard sides) have been fixed to the deck in two methods.

1. The first method used a black anodised solid round alloy bar with two threaded holes in it. The chainplate on the top of the deck was then bolted through the deck and into the threaded holes. This method of fixing was dropped, as although the bolts were coated in an electrolysis barrier paint the bolts still corroded in the alloy bar making replacement less easy.
2. The more recent boats have replaced the round alloy bar with large curved washers. This stops the corrosion problem.

Chainplate fixing bolt shearing

A small but regular failure is that the bolts can shear. One bolt fails, and the rig then looses tension. The class technical committee and Ovington Boats discussed this problem, and Ovington Boats now supply all new bolts with a higher grade bolt. This bolt is available directly from Ovington Boats.

Over the years there have been a few notifications of the heads “popping” off the bolts that hold the chainplates to the gunwales. Based on the feedback from the sailors and the results of the on-line sailor survey Ovington Boats have now produced an M8 retro fit bolt kit. All new boats from (Aug 2013; #496) will be supplied with M8 bolts as standard.

If you wish to upgrade your MUSTO Skiff (which is recommended) you can order a kit direct from Ovington Boats here.