how to replace picnic cat centerboard bolt and seals

[dannyd]

I got around to replacing the centerboard bolt and seals which had a slight leak.  It was not as easy as I thought it would be.
Cost for the new bolt, nut, 2 rubber seals was around $14. delivered from Hutchins.
My grandson was on one side holding the bolt head with a wrench while I was on the other side using a deep 3/4" socket to remove the nut.
There were 2 flat washers under the nut and I reused these with the new bolt.
I used the new bolt (with 2 flat washers and rubber seal) to knock out the old one to prevent dropping out the centerboard. Once the old bolt cleared one side of the trunk  the centerboard dropped about 1/16" and this prevented knocking the new bolt through to the other side. I had my grandson go under the boat and push up on the front of the centerboard. After a few trys I finally got the holes to line up and was able to hammer the new bolt through. The hole is very tight and everything has to be lined up perfect for the bolt to go through. Total time was about 1/2 hour. I thought it would be a 5 min job!!
The old rubber seals were in bad shape. There were slits on the hole and that is probably where the leak was.
Hutchins says to put white lithium grease on the threads. I put the rubber seal onto the bolt with 2 flat washers and snugged up the locking nut. Hutchins said they torque to 20 lbs.
I am 180 lbs 6' 1" and was just able to squeeze inside the boat to do this job. There is only a few inches clearance for the hammer from the bolt head. I had a small body hammer and had to use it sideways.
Once the bolt was in place I had to get into the other side to tighten the nut while my grandson held the bolt on the other side.

Items used:

New bolt, nut and 2 rubber seals from Hutchins
3/4" deep socket with 3/8" drive (extension recommended)
3/4" wrench
hammer
white lithium grease.
Torque wrench if available. Torque to 20 lbs.

My boat is a 2007 and the previous owners (2) hardly used it. The seals were a little dry and also damaged. Boat was also garage kept.