Well, I found them…I ordered 2 dozen…with the New Year’s holiday and the post office being closed in reverence to President Ford, it took a few days longer than expected for the express mail package to make it here. Now, they’re here! and David’s been installing them in the new floors mid-section of the Mahdee (last Thursday and today). See the pics of clench rings on drifts that will be installed and of them installed in the floors. David seems to be muttering a lot about all the peening required, hum…

Reference:
Bronze Clench Rings?
Filed under: We need… — Brenda @ 1:19 pm

5/8″ Clench rings on drifts getting ready to install (above)

Installed (below)

It’s so strange that something that was once “common” is now so hard to find. Every-other-floor has keel bolts w/nuts/washers and every-other-one has drifts with clench rings. So, where can one find bronze clench rings these days? As it turns out, just about nowhere. I’ve got a call into a foundry in Port Townsend, Washington that should have them in stock. My fingers are crossed…Otherwise, we’ll be making clench rings this week.

These portholes have a “cam” mechanism for closing instead of a normal turn-screw dog system. We’d like to learn more about them since we need to replace the glass in one and seals in all. If you’ve seen any like these, please let us know! They are bronze, but have been painted white in some of the cabin.