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All but 2 bolts can be torqued with the custom socket. To tighten the second and third aft-most bolts I bought a 4" deep socket and a 16" extension bar combined with the 8" extension from Harbor Freight. This gave me 24" so I could get the wrench above the floor. You need the entire 36" length to get the bolt through the port settee. Maybe you could avoid the second socket if the custom one was made to be 16", then use extensions as needed. To access the difficult bolts I needed to remove the floor panel under the table. With panel removed I drilled an 1 1/8" inch hole in the floor pan and wire race (avoiding the wires) for the extension bar directly above bolts. These holes are normally covered by the teak floor board. I tried to jockey the wrench in the bilge, but couldn't get enough clearance to turn it.

I tightened the bolts while at the boatyard with the full weight on the keel. The second from aft-most bolt was only initially torqued to 50 ft-lbs. and took about 3 full turns to tighten to 235 ft-lbs, others were about 100-150 ft.-lbs. They definitely needed tightening and it has indeed kept the bilge dry when there are no other leaks. I plan on checking the bolts every few years.

Ron,

My guess is that Catalina originally tightened the bolts before installing the floor pan. You can easily see the bolts after removing the floor grating and dust bin at the foot of the companionway. I located where to drill by holding a long pencil as directly over the bolt as I could, and marking from the underside. Then I drilled a 1/8" locator hole from below (after first removing the teak & holly floor board) so I could see where to center the hole saw from the top.

The hole only needs to be big enough to pass the extension bar through, but a little extra clearance makes it easier to get everything lined up. Put the socket on the nut through the floor hatch, then insert the extensions to get the torque wrench connection above the floor. I do think the best approach is to tighten the bolts when the boat is on the hard.