INVESTIGATOR 563

I used bolts right through with a stainless plate on the underside. I could not buy countersink head 316 stainless bolts, so I put mine in the lathe and turned the countersink taper to the under side of the head of the bolt and also cut a slot ( enough to hold a flat screwdriver to stop them turning when doing up the nuts). The head of the bolts must be flush with the bottom face of the fitting otherwise the mast will ride on the heads and tilt the mast back as well as probably break something. As I had to replace all the insides of the mast step with marine plywood and filled with epoxy, where the bolt holes go through, I bored 1 inch holes through each layer of plywood and filled them with epoxy and then counter bored the bolt holes through the epoxy. This way, the ply will never rot out again as the only place that water can get in at the mast step is around the screws or bolts that holds the mast base in place. Also bolt holes slightly oversized to take the marine Sikaflex sealer used around the shaft of the bolts

That's good advice Ozzie and Peter,

Used my old Duralac (seems to last forever, 30 yrs old?!), safety first though, nitrile gloves. (Bought some "Duralac green" few months ago at BCF, it's supposed to be safer) (however re-discovered the old yellow stuff after that..and didnt open the green)

That's a good idea to modify a hex bolt like that, small engineering shops could do it if no metal lathe.

Sealed the bolt top under step with silicone, and a bead of silicone all around the tabernacle edge as well.