On Sat, 15 Sep 2007 13:13:28 -0000, Mike wrote:

How is this plate supposed to be secured to the boat? Do I just need
to do a better job with silicone? Is there some adjustment that needs
to be made to hold the plate on better? Should this have done over
with fiber glass?

Tough to say with all that silicome gunk in the images, but given your
description, I would think that there is more going on there than just
a simple sealing job. From the looks of it, that bilge has more
problems than you may think.

If I owned the boat, I'd remove it entirely and look at the glass
supporting it. You may have come rotten glass in that area - just
guessing here, but from the photos, it would appear that the area
around the stuffing box (which is essentially what that is) is soft.
Again, just a guess based on the images - I could very well be wrong.

If it's doing what you said it was doing, then I'd take a closer look
at the surrounding area for more information.