Our boat is currently on the Rio Dulce. I'm returning next week.

One of the things I did before I left a couple of months ago was to remove the backstay chainplate to get a new one made.

I brought it home and sent it to Garhauer to have a new one fabricated. They sent me back a beautiful new chainplate exactly the same as the one I took out. There are 5 holes to bolt it to the fiberglass knee at the stern. The old chainplate had 9/16" holes. So,, I take the chainplate to the local hardware store to get some new 9/16" stainless bolts. I find out that they don't make 9/16" stainless bolts, only 1/2 or 5/8".

I come home and compare the backstay chainplate with the forward ones I replaced last year,,,,, Hmmmm? The other chainplate holes are 1/2".

I've come to believe that someone at the factory back in 1983 drilled the wrong sized holes in the chainplate and it had 1/2" bolts in 9/16" holes all this time. ( never noticed it when I took the chainplate out. )

I'm going to install it that way once again,,, 1/2" bolts in 9/16" holes. Don't know what else to do as there is no time left to have a new one made.

Weird,,,, don't think it's a problem as it's been that way for 25 year. I just don't like it.

Any thoughts?