Is the glass half full or half empty?

This morning I began to remove the chain plates to facilitate painting both the internal lockers and the decks.  At first I was amazed at the amount some of the nuts had loosened over the 4 years since I last removed and re-bedded the chain plates.  I was able to loosen a couple by hand despite the presence of a lock washer.  Guess I need to add this check to a list of annual projects.

Below is an image of the damage discovered when the portside, forward chain plate was removed.

The chip of metal in my hand simply fell away when I removed the bolts.

Four years ago, I refinished the aft chain plates.  On C'est la Vie the aft plates are larger and attach to both an upper shroud and a lower shroud.  The forward, smaller plates only attach to a lower shroud.  Impressed by the craftsmanship and the cost of the repairs Lindow Marine Services provided when repairing the bobstay.   We now plan to have 4 new chainplates made up in stainless steel.

We anticipated discovering some hidden repairs when we stepped the mast, but the surprises continue to surface.    I continue to dwell on the glass half full perspective - at least we are discovering all these required repairs while on the hard rather that via a rig failure at sea.