Rebdedding Chainplates

I've been doing a lot of research on how maintain my boat. I figure that if I write it down somewhere, I'll remember it a lot better.

I need to rebed the chainplates on my boat. Everything that goes through the deck is a place for water to get in causing rot and corrosion. Waterproof seals are needed. One thing that's been puzzling me a lot is exactly what this involves. Here's what I've found:

• clean the surfaces to be sealed (the deck hardware and deck). These need to be squeaky clean to ensure a good seal so use wire brushes then polish with acetone.
• apply masking tape around the fitting and the deck. This will keep the sealant in the seal and nowhere else (e.g. on the deck and the fitting) and will make the cleanup easy.
• lift the fitting, and squirt in the sealant on the deck and on the fitting. For through-bolts, squirt a ring of sealant around the bolt.
• wait for the sealant to partially cure (30 mins for silicone), before tightening the fitting on the deck. This is to ensure that the sealant is compressed between to the fitting and the deck and not squirted out.
• Wait for full cure (usually 24 hours) and clean up. Carefully cut around the edges with a knife and remove the tape.
  

Marine silicone sealant works well for most purposes, although silicone cannot be used for sealing certain plastics.