Harvey, The board weighed 63 lbs before I painted it. I am more than two hours away from the nearest marine supply store, so I went to the local farm/home supply joint where they actually found some dusty cans of Valspar marine metal primer down in their basement. It involved a two step process with three chemicals which resulted in a very hard green coating. I finished it off with exterior heavy duty Rustoleum. I trailer the boat and sail on lakes around here, so I am hoping that a yearly inspection and touch up will keep me in business. I briefly considered stainless but decided against it due to cost. Personal circumstances dictate that I sail on the cheap and the cold-roll steel that I used cost me $40 and some cold Sam Adams for labor. I also used beer to lift my boat. Living in dairy country it didn't take long to find a thirsty farmer friend with a couple of tractors that had bale forks (four foot spike on the end of a loader) on the front. His brother was a trucker who had some huge towing staps (very heavy webbing five or six inches wide). We parked a tractor at each end of the boat, looped one stap under the bow and the other under the stern, tied each strap around ta fork which was waiting above the boat and lifted her skyward. This worked fine, but it was somewhat a pain in the rear to be driving tractors around and to keep those guys out of the beer until AFTER the job was done! I would like to find a location to use the cleat and chainplate method in the future. Harvey Hochstetter wrote:

Hi Dale,

Saw your note about the new CB and I was wondering 1/ What the weight of your *" plate steel CB is? 2/ What you do for anti-rust treatment, ie: paint, glass etc? 3/ Was there any consideration given to going with a Stainless Steel plate? ( I'm not sure how the weight and cost would compare.)

I know the CB pin in Pelican was replace several years before I took possession, and it has been a source of wonder to me, whether I need to be concerned about replacing or more detailed inspection than just crawling under the trailer with a flashlight. I do have the M-15 in a shop where I might be able to get it suspended. I was quite interested in the discussion of suspension earlier. I was considering a web strap system, but the cleat and chainplate method might be easier. Will probably have to beef up the overhead rafter/joist system, but I think that will be useful over time.

Thanks in advance for the info. Since my access to this is at work, my chances to follow up vary according to the work load, but I will eventually get back to you.

Harvey M-15 #348 "Pelican"

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