Any other indications of trouble?
Have you seen any other problems that suggest that you need to replace them? I would think about replacing if you have started seeing that Catalina "smile" when the boat is hauled out, or if you notice further deterioration. On the other hand, there is something to be said for replacing them while they are still in good shape, so that you can get a good grip on the nut and aren't confronted by having to chisel them off, etc. I have read of people routinely loosening and retightening the nuts on an annual basis to make sure that they will come on and off without a problem. What you really want to avoid is having the bolt (shaped like a "J") which is perrmanently embedded in the keel corrode to the point where it is no longer usuable. When your boat is next hauled and the keel well blocked I would remove and then put back on all of the nuts one by one. I forget what the amount of torque you want on each to be, but better to make sure you don't have a problem than discover later on that you missed an opportunity to deal with things before they went bad. I also would replace the galvanized with SS nuts or vice versa so that they are all the same to avoid potential problems associated with minor electrical currents between different metals (electrolysis?). In any event the old salt is probably right, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't double check. You also should try to make sure that you always keep the bilge dry. George
