Given that there are bulkheads it stands to reason that there is a chance that the bolt positions will happen to intersect these bulkheads. But I didn't think about that soon enough. Sure enough it happened. This problem could have been avoided if I had used 19 blocks instead of 18 or moved the rails slightly aft or forward. But by the time I discovered this it was too late for that. So I had to figure out how to deal with it.
Originally I was going to rely on the threading of the 3 1/2 bolt into cured epoxy. I coated the bolt with wax and set it in liquid epoxy. But after curing the bolt turned too loosely. I got concerned that this scheme might not be adequate. So I designed another way involving a 4" bolt and regular nuts on the bottom side of the cabin top. I started by digging out the bung and extracting the screw. I then drilled a hole to 4" depth.
Then I went below and drilled into the side of the bulkhead to make enough room for a regular nut. It was tedious coaxing the bolt and nut to go together in the confined space. The nut liked to go at an angle and not engage the threads. After several tries I got the nut started on the bolt.
I taped things up to prevent spreading of epoxy and reduce cleanup. The epoxy is intended to secure the nut in position. But I purposely left a small gap. If water should decide to come down along the bolt it has a way to escape rather than sit in the hole and foster rot.
I applied epoxy that has been sufficiently thickened so that it won't flow on its own. I'm taking no chances though for the epoxy to drip onto anything that I can't clean it off of. I will sand and paint this.
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