Sallyport keelson and seat support - also note about Teifi gates.

[nigel]

1:- I noticed at the Random Races event that a) foot wear of the stroke footrest area of the keelson is becoming very noticeable and is resulting in a weakened area of the keel. b) during the races someone had kicked off one of the seat support guides/clamps. This means that anyone pushing or knocking the central seat support sideways may cause the central support to collapse, with consequent damage to seat and/ or the side structure of the boat. This is in position 3 as I remember it. Think it is a simple glueing job, as the remaining screws can be used as position holders for the piece of wood (which was still in the boat at position 3 when last seen). 2:- Using Lottie today it was immediately apparent that ALL the gates had a) been packed up with too many gate-spacers and tightened down so firmly that none of them could rotate freely. To compound the felony someone had placed tape around a substantial part of the stack of spacers, thus i) further restricting movement of the gates, and ii) further restricting free access of air (importantly - oxygen) to the stainless-steel pin on which the gates are mounted. This can lead to a process called stress corrosion cracking (SCC). The pin snaps with little or no warning. This happened several years ago on these same boats, and the whole oar-mounts had to be replaced. A useful quick summary of the chemistry and physics of SCC can be seen here:- https://www.thermofisher.com/blog/metals/is-stainless-steel-really-stainless/ b) because of the restriction in movement the fore-and-aft rowing action of the oars has caused significant wear on the gates ( that is why they are supposed to rotate freely - so the load from the oar is carried on the PIN not the gate!). See the photo below to see how near to failure the gates are at the moment!