Josh and Rob - thanks for your comments. I did torque the bolts while in the water after reading a convincing post about how little extra torque is needed to overcome the weight of the keel (think of the leverage of each bolt's screw thread). The suggestion for a much heavier keel only worked out to 10% more torque. I also figured the keel's weight distribution would be more even that way too because the keel is a little tricky to block evenly on land. That said, I would not be surprised if when I haul it and block it that it will tighten up a little as Josh suggests. I believe I can see all the keel bolts - there is one that is a tight fit under the compression post pad.
Rob - I used a 4 by 4 post and a screw jack to replace the compression post temporarily after loosening the rig. This allowed me to remove the post and repair the aluminum base casting. I then rebuilt the step. The underlying plywood pad was solid but had bowed in the middle, so I tabbed it in below to prevent it sinking further and then built it back up level with fibreglass and epoxy before adding a 1/4 inch aluminum plate cut to fit under the post base. Interestingly the base was full of large shim washers almost to the top - must have been done that way by C&C because their compression posts were too short for some reason. I removed one shim washer to compensate for my increased base thickness and all went back together just fine. Chris
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