taken to using a patch of textilene material cut in the shape of the base, punching bolt holes in the proper places and using 4200. I also use the texteilene material under my chain plate deck plates which cover where they pass through the deck. These were always an issue and I finely put that to bed, pardon the pun. I was complaining to an old timer, who spent his life working on ships, about the issue that I was having with my chains and he told me that they used to use canvas under fittings to help hold the bedding compound in place. That started me thinking and I knew that there were new synthetic materials on the market that might work better than canvas and I came up with the Textilene. Basically I just cut a gasket out of it like you would out of any gasket material but the threads in the textilene seem to hold the bedding compound in place and withstand the crushing effect of tightening the bolts. I use the same hole punches that I use on any gasket.