Hi Janet, Glad your core stayed dry! My deck was noticeably squishy on the port side forward of the chain plates and around the head vent - thus all the cutting and core replacement. Now it is stiff and no leaks in 5 years!
Yes, that was my suggestion. The goal is to just trim out a 45 deg bevel about 3/16"-1/4" deep in the gel coat and fiberglass of the deck with a knife but if that is too hard, then the oscillating tool should help. A small grinding wheel on a dremel or something like that could also be an option. The only thing is to be careful to not cut into the SS chainplate assuming you are leaving it installed while doing this since a significant nick in that could start a crack over time. I wouldn't worry about a little scratch but you don't want a real cut into it that creates a significant stress concentration. Something kind of like what is shown in this graphic: https://www.pbo.co.uk/practical-projects/a-cure-for-leaky-chainplates-27982 is what you are going for. This person also did something similar (except that they completely removed the chain plates which I didn't do): https://www.threefools.org/velocity/Projects/RebedChainplates/chainplates.html - if the core isn't wet you don't have to remove the chainplates completely and grind out and replace core with epoxy but the last couple of pictures might help where they have a bevel on the top of the deck to create a gap to the chain plate and then install the butyl tape around it and on the plate. Putting the epoxy in the holes for the self tapping screws to give them something to get more bite in (then pre-drill again) is also an good/important step as you need to get enough grip with them to compress the butyl. Nathan
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