I actually was able to pull my boat out of the basement this weekend and get some work done on the transom. The PO had caulked the gap between the wake plate and the transom. Worst caulk job I've ever seen. It took me almost 2 hours to get it all cleaned off. My question is, does it really need to be caulked? I don't see that it needs to be. I would understand that the bolts for the plates should be installed with 5200, but caulking the plate to the transom seems to accomplish nothing. Maybe I'm missing something.
Also, I'm about to mount my swim platform brackets back on. I need to seal the bolts with something, but since I'd like to remove the brackets every winter for boat storage, I'm thinking that 5200 is not the best option. Any other suggestions?