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The factory was able to send us drawings of this connection, which I have at the boat. I'll try and post them this weekend.

My recollection is that the pole is threaded at both ends. With the shrouds removed there should be a little play in the assembly, say 1/16". The procedure for adjusting the chain plate requires that you take the tension off all the stays including the backstay. Then remove the shrouds for the chainplate you would like to adjust. At this point you can remove the four screws which enables you to adjust the tension on the pole much like a turn-buckle. Once properly tensioned and bedded, you can re-attach everything in reverse order and tension all stays. Rebedding the chain plate has been on my to-do list for a while as we have indication of a water leak on the starboard side. It just hasn't become an urgent repair. Hopefully this spring...

Here's a link to the drawing:

chainplate assembly

My partner Gary and I finally got around to rebedding the chainplate. We had some rust on the starboard side indicating water penetration. So it was time for this maintenance task. Here is what we experienced.

To start, we carefully released the load on all the stays, a couple of turns at a time including the back stay. We used our spare genoa haylard and main haylard as temporary shrouds. Once loose, we disconnected the shrouds from the chainplate by pulling the pins.

Working from below, we now worked to free the tension on the rod. We have a 3 cabin so the starboard side was more difficult while the port side had very easy. Once the tension was release (by turning the rod), we removed the pin and un-bolted the chainplate and its backing plate.

About the rod, it is indeed threaded only on the lower side. The top is like a big screw head (we really could see it) with a collar that is welded to the chainplate. This allows for some play essential for alignment and also allows one to adjust the tension by turning the rod (with the cotter pin out).

Upon removing the chainplate, we did confirm rust and water penetration. The deck appears to be properly sealed at the hole (either solid fiberglass or epoxy). However the space between the deck and headliner was not filled. Water could get in and travel between the deck and headliner down the sides and into the bilge. We applied enough bedding compound to get everything covered. After rebedding the chainplate, we evenly torqued the bolts to the backing plate, happy to see bedding compound oozing around the collar from inside the boat. We reconnected the pin, turning the rod until it easily slipped in and then tightened the rod until taut and the cotter pin could be re-inserted.

The finally task was to reinstall all the stays putting back the same number of turns on each.

Considering the visible rust on the starboard connecting hardward (behind the sink), we are happy to have eliminated this source of water. It turned out to be a manageable maintenance task.