If you look at many of the older chainplate 'lots of little bolt' designs forensically many time youll see the result after years of service in that the closest bolts to the rigging have damaged and broken the fiberglass in the 'sequential / zipper' pattern that I mentioned .... the topmost bolt holes with smiley face cracks radiating out at 90° to the axis of stress ...... light bulb goes on: saddle bearing stress failure due to different strain/elasticity characteristics of the two materials - SS vs. FRG and the stress risers (weakening / fatigue) of bolt holes used in shear. This is what led me to a 'friction joint'. The alternative to a friction joint is a BIG whopping clevis system with a single bolt/pin .... and Group Beneteau has been doing this very successfully now for many years in their quite robust chainplate systems - an 'aha moment' for lightbulb #2 turning on.

Yup, fatigue can be a factor, especially in 300 series stainless if you exceed the fatigue endurance limit (typically 30% of UTS or 30ksi); however, I mentioned that 30% stress of 3X Safety Factor (seemingly 4X for Bob Perry) .... and that should take care of the nominal endurance limit. Plus, youre not going to be using a drogue system for 1 million load cycles above 30% stress ..... unless youre waiting for FEMA to show up and the storm doesnt quit for months on end which causes the occupants of the boat to become 'liquified'.