Sounds like I need to take a closer look at my bulkhead in the vicinity of the chainplates. My bulkhead is definitely balsa cored away from the chainplates, as I have mounted stuff on the bulkhead closer to the centre of the boat. My assumption was that the chainplate area was more strongly built to take the chainplate loads. It certainly looked solid there when I took the chainplate off, and it does not look like it was ever rebuilt.
