The winches are for handling the spinnaker, although you might be able to use them for the jib sheets also. There is no access to this area from underneath because the coamings are filled with foam for floatation. You could cut an appropiate size hole under the winch base and cut your backing block in half in order to get the two peices through the hole in the coaming. That doesn't explain how he got a backing plate under the track and the cam cleats just aft of the winches, unless he made the hole under the winch big enough to reach in, remove foam, and install backing plates, which doesn't seem likely. He could have gone in from underneath, cut a big hole in the headliner, removed the foam, installed the backing plates, covered the headliner hole with thin lexan and screws for future access, and added expanding foam from the top before mounting his hardware. Can you tell I've been planning this same upgrade for a while now? I hope Hunter was really smart and installed a full length aluminum backing plate during construction. Then you could just drill and tap the holes for your screws. I suppose thats too much to hope for. Maybe someone should call Hunter and ask them before we all go cutting holes in our headliners. Please let me know what they say. I'm going to get my jig saw. Peace Love Sail Ron Scott s/v "Maria Rose" Hunter 23.5 ps. The cleats on the stearn rail don't appear to be mounted at the right angle for a tiller tamer.